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Chap.'p2-'S Copyright No. | 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. | 



















appletons’ 
^own anti Country 
Xibrarp 

No. 218 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE 




\ 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE 


7 

eJJnorris 


\y 


AUTHOR OF MATRIMONY, MADEMOISELLE DE MERSAC, 

A VICTIM OF GOOD LUCK, THE DANCER IN YELLOW, ETC. 









D. 


NEW YORK 

APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1897 




/ 



Copyright, 1897, 

By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 




i 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I. — Lord Middlewood’s children 1 

II. — St. Quintin takes notes 11 

III. — Ponte a Serraglio 22 

IV. — Admiration and discretion 31 

V. — Pacta est alea 40 

VI. — The family council 48 

VII. — The arrival of the exiles 58 

VIII. — A FACILE triumph 68 

IX. — The Protestant heroine 77 

X. — Marietta at home 87 

XL — Roland Strahan 96 

XII. — Australia advances 106 

XIII. — Discontent 116 

XIV. — The colonel’s remedy 126 

XV. — Strahan displays a fresh accomplishment . .136 

XVI. — Lord Middle wood conquers and is conquered . 145 

XVII. — The new regime 154 

XVIII. — Betty pays St. Quintin a comploient . . .164 

XIX. — Benigna diva priformis 173 

XX. — Strahan is a little puzzled 181 

XXL — The recalcitrant princess 191 

XXII. — “Scandalous conduct” 201 

XXIII. — Marietta becomes restive 211 

XXIV. — Lady Middlewood’s dance 220 

XXV. — Good luck and good guidance .... 229 
XX VI. — Time for consideration 238 


V 


VI 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE 


CHAPTER PAGE 

XXVII. — India goes to the wall 248 

XXVIII. — The devout lover 257 

XXIX. — Austria v. Australia 267 

XXX. — Betty puts her foot in it 277 

XXXI. — Judgment pronounced by the head of the 

FAMILY 287 

XXXII. — In an opera-box 296 

XXXIII. — The better part of valour .... 804 

XXXIV. — Strahan the invincible 813 

XXXV. — A foe in need 323 

XXXVI. — The colonel gives battle 333 

XXXVII. — Presence of mind 342 

XXXVIII. — “Some person or persons unknown” . . 351 

XXXIX. — Solitude 1 deux 360 

XL. — Strahan looks matters in the face . . 370 

XLI. — On the brink 379 

XLII. — XOT CAUGHT YET 388 

XLIII. — Dutch courage 398 

XLIV. — The philosophic loser 407 

XLV. — Conflicting emotions 417 

XLVI. — The case for the accused 427 

XLVII. — St. Quintin has a pleasant walk . . . 436 

XLVIII. — Mr. Brydon retires 444 


I 

,Y / ; 



MARIETTA'S MARRIAGE. 


CHAPTER I. 

LORD MIDDLEWOOD^S CHILDREJf. 

Confound it all! ” exclaimed the old gentleman 
in the corner of the smoking-carriage, ^^here they are 
slowing down again. Upon my word, it’s too bad! ” 

His opposite neighbour agreed that it was; hut re- 
marked, by way of excuse for the railway company, that 
the gradients were uncommonly steep thereabouts. 
The train, indeed, was at that time skirting the high- 
lying Peak district of Derbyshire, and there were ob- 
vious difficulties about the maintenance of a uniform 
rate of speed. But the first speaker would admit no 
such plea. 

Gradients be hanged! ” he returned, “ we’re 
slackening because they’re going to stop us at Middle- 
wood — for the third time during the present month, 
as I can personally testify. Now what I want to know, 
and what I shall make a point of writing to the traffic 
manager to ask, is whether the company has a legal 
right to delay passengers by express for a matter of ten 
minutes merely because some whipper-snapper or other 
has been invited to stay with Lord Middlewood? If 
so, well and good, and we shall know what to expect 
in future when we are charged express fares. If 
not ” 

He glanced savagely at the third occupant of the 
carriage, a tall young man, whose travelling-hag, as he 
1 


2 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


may have noticed, bore on a label the printed name of 
Harold St. Quintin, beneath which was written the 
tell-tale address of Middlewood Hall. The culprit 
hastily raised the Field between him and his accuser 
to conceal his embarrassment, for he was a modest, un- 
assuming youth, and nothing could have been further 
from his wish than to cause inconvenience to any old 
gentleman. It was no fault of his that Lord Middle- 
wood had ordered the train to he stopped, nor could 
he be aware that Lord Middlewood did not care a straw 
(except, perhaps, at election times) how much incon- 
venience might he inflicted upon insignificant passen- 
gers by rail. What is the use in these days of being 
a mighty territorial magnate if you are to waive the 
few trifling privileges left to you by a triumphant 
democracy ? 

Presently the train was brought to a standstill, and 
Mr. St. Quintin, with a deprecating glance at his ag- 
grieved fellow-travellers, hastened to collect his belong- 
ings, which a groom was waiting to receive. As he 
stepped out on to the platform, one of the aggrieved per- 
sons asked: 

Who is that long-legged fellow? ” 

I’m sure I don’t know,” answered the other. 
“ Some friend of young Mallet’s, come down for shoot- 
ing, I suppose. I only hope he’ll report my remarks 
to his noble entertainer. I was glad to observe a blush 
of shame upon his ugly face.” 

Of an appropriate and not unbecoming blush Harold 
St. Quintin may have been guilty; but to call his face 
an ugly one was scarcely fair. It was a long, narrow 
face, divided vertically by a nose of noble dimensions, 
and horizontally by a mouth far too wide for beauty; 
but if these features sinned against the rules of art, 
they were redeemed in part by his well-opened gray 
eyes, and altogether by that indescribable expression 
of countenance which is the peculiar property of kindly, 
honest men. It was impossible to look at him and doubt 
that; if you should ever have occasion to ask him what 


LORD MIDDLEWOOD’S CHILDREN. 


3 


he thought of you, he would subject himself to deep 
mental suffering by telling you the unscrupulous truth. 

Happily for him and for others, he could have said 
exactly what he thought about Lionel Mallet without 
hurting anybody's feelings; and what he thought was 
very much what all the world thought. Lionel Mallet, 
that spoilt child of fortune whom fortune had not suc- 
ceeded in spoiling, had driven down to the station to 
meet him, and greeted him as warmly as one young 
Englishman ever greets another. This very handsome, 
broad-shouldered fellow, whose hair curled crisply over 
a well-shaped head, and whose profile had been pro- 
nounced almost perfect by more than one competent 
judge, was about to start in life with advantages far 
more substantial than those which are proverbially but 
skin deep. Heir-apparent to an ancient title, and actual 
proprietor of an estate which had been carefully man- 
aged for him during a long minority, he was believed 
to possess, into the bargain, more than an average share 
of brains, while he was known to excel in every form 
of sport and pastime. When to all this is added the fact 
that his conduct at Eton and Oxford had been irre- 
proachable, or nearly so, it will be perceived that he had 
some reason for sharing the apprehensions of Polycrates. 
However, he was just now blessed with a grievance — 
not a very serious one, to be sure, still a genuine griev- 
ance, so far as it went — and upon this he proceeded 
to descant as soon as he and the friend who had been 
his most intimate associate at the University were 
seated side by side in his dogcart. 

‘‘Pm awfully glad to see you, old chap,^^ said he, 
^^and if I must needs explore foreign lands, I would 
rather do it in your company than in anybody else’s; 
but I confess that it would suit me a good deal 
better to stay at home. It seems to me that one can 
find out all that there’s any necessity to know about 
other countries with an atlas and a few books of refer- 
ence.” 

^‘1 suppose Lord Middlewood doesn’t think so,” 


4 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE, 


observed St. Quintin. But you are your own master, 
after all; you aren’t bound to obey him or anybody.” 

“ Ah, that’s just where the shoe pinches! How is 
one to disobey one’s natural master when he admits 
that, owing to the peculiar circumstances, he is com- 
pelled to ask favours instead of giving orders? My 
father is old-fashioned; he was sent on the grand tour 
when he was young, and he is persuaded that an ex- 
tended edition of the grand tour is the necessary wind 
up of a liberal education. And then, naturally enough, 
he is in a mortal funk lest I should marry somebody 
before I have had time to look about me. Well, it’s 
a bore; but it couldn’t very well have been helped, and 
I dare say we shall manage to get some fun out of our 
wanderings.” 

I expect to do so,” remarked St. Quintin; but 
I am rather easily pleased, and what you call a bore 
I call a downright godsend. To see India and Egypt 
and Italy free of expense is a piece of good luck which 
doesn’t come twice in a lifetime to the likes of me! ” 

It was also a piece of good luck for a young man 
who had neither wealth nor powerful influence to have 
been selected as Lionel Mallet’s companion on that 
journey. For Mallet, who would some day be Viscount 
Middlewood, and who was already marked out by posi- 
tion and inheritance to play a prominent part in polit- 
ical life, would, it might safely be assumed, be able ere 
long to render valuable services to his friends. But St. 
Quintin, dowered though he was with a sufficiency 
of sober sense and foresight, had not thought of that 
when he had accepted the offer conveyed to him by 
Lionel’s father. It had been a question with him 
whether it would be wise on his part to interrupt his 
reading for the Bar in order to undertake the proposed 
trip: if he had consented, it was partly because he could 
not resist so great a temptation, partly because Lionel 
had wanted him so much to consent. It had always 
been his habit to do as far as possible what Lionel 
wanted him to do. 


LORD MIDDLEWOOD’S CHILDREN. 


5 


‘^What a beautiful, wild country this is!” he re- 
marked, while the dogcart was driven at a round pace 
up hill and down dale in the yellow sunshine of the 
autumn afternoon. 

“Well, yes, it’s wild enough,” his friend agreed; 
“ I don’t know whether you would call it beautiful if 
you saw it in the month of January, and we have no 
hounds hereabouts, except the jelly-dogs. Ludworth, 
my own place, which is on the borders of Cheshire, 
you know, is a good deal more favourably situated than 
this.” 

“ For hunting, you mean? ” 

“ Well, for everything, except grouse. The worst 
of it is that it’s rather a big house for a lone man to 
inhabit, and, now that I have come into possession, 
my father will never go there again without a formal 
invitation. He’s tremendously punctilious about that 
sort of thing.” 

It is perhaps as well to be a little punctilious with 
your only son when he happens to be independent of 
you in a pecuniary sense, and Lord Middlewood, who 
was a man of many experiences, may have thought that 
his best chance of retaining influence and authority 
under circumstances so difficult lay in a formal renun- 
ciation of the same. He may likewise have thought 
— and indeed he did — that Ludworth ought to have 
come to him, instead of to his heir; but he had never 
given utterance to an opinion which had apparently 
not been shared by the kinsman who had died many 
years before, bequeathing that very desirable property 
to a child of eight years old, with stringent directions 
as to the employment of surplus revenues during the 
child’s minority. In accordance with the will of that 
deceased kinsman, Lionel had only come of age on the 
completion of his twenty-third year, and now that he 
had taken his degree, it was obviously desirable that 
he should see a little of the world before falling a vic- 
tim to one of the Belgravian mammas whose arms 
were ready to clasp him. As a result of his good 


6 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


nature, therefore, Harold St. Quintin and he were 
about to see something of the world in a geographical 
sense. 

That small portion of the world in which his child- 
hood had been spent was a district of rolling moors and 
uplands and grass fields, divided by stone walls. Deep 
valleys, through which trout streams ran, and of which 
the precipitous banks were clothed by hanging woods, 
intersected it; mountain-ashes, brilliant just now with 
clusters of scarlet berries, bordered the road, and pres- 
ently a pair of massive iron gates were flung open to 
admit the dogcart into a well-timbered, undulating 
park. 

Vll tell you what it is. Mallet,” said St. Quintin, 
in the grave, convinced accents of one who has hit upon 
an interesting discovery; ^‘you’re a devilish lucky 
chap! ” 

Lionel laughed — partly because it is not unpleasant 
to be a devilish lucky chap, partly because nobody with 
an average sense of humour could help laughing at dear 
old St. Quintin’s remarks. 

“ Oh, I don’t grumble,” he replied. “ All the same, 
if it comes to that, I’m not sure that Betty’s luck isn’t 
better than mine. No responsibilities, you see, and as 
much liberty as she chooses to claim — which is a good 
deal.” 

He pointed with his whip, as he spoke, at an ap- 
proaching vehicle, the driver of which appeared to claim, 
amongst other things, the lion’s share of the road. This 
was the Honourable Betty Mallet, Lionel’s only sister, 
who was driving a pair of ponies tandem, and who, after 
forcing the occupants of the dogcart on to the grass, 
greeted them with a friendly nod. Miss Mallet was 
going to be a beauty and a considerable heiress. Many 
people thought that she was already the former, though 
she was still only a child, and her fair hair hung down 
her back in one thick plait. The frank blue eyes with 
which she took stock of her brother’s companion while 
she passed, were destined, as anybody could foresee. 


LORD MIDDLEWOOD’S CHILDREN. 7 

to make hearts ache, and she displayed a row of white, 
even teeth when Lionel called out: — 

^^Now then, Betty, where are you going to? And 
who gave you permission to drive your ponies one in 
front of the other, I should like to know ? ” 

“ Took it, dear boy,” she replied over her shoulder. 

Also the harness, which I’m sure you are happy to 
lend me. I’m going over to pay a duty call to granny, 
and ask her what she thinks of my turn out.” 

You’ll hear what she thinks in plain language if 
you ever get there! ” shouted Lionel. “ But you won’t. 
The first waggon you meet will send you and your cart 
into the ditch without touching you.” 

To this gibe Miss Mallet, being out of earshot, made 
no rejoinder, and St. Quintin observed sententiously, 
“ Your sister certainly does appear to he allowed a fair 
share of liberty.” 

Lionel shrugged his shoulders. 

She has a will of her own,” he answered, and she 
has never, within her memory, had a mother of her own. 
My grandmother comes down upon her like a cartload 
of bricks every now and then; but that doesn’t trouble 
her much. She can do exactly what she likes with my 
father, and, in justice to her, I must say that she doesn’t, 
as a rule, abuse her power. It’s in a few years’ time 
that she will be apt to give us all trouble, I’m afraid.” 

Nothing seemed more probable; so St. Quintin dis- 
creetly held his peace, thinking to himself that, upon the 
whole, he would just as soon not be the father of Lord 
Middlewood’s children. 

The gray-bearded man who, from the library window 
of the mansion which was now in sight, was watching 
the advent of the two young friends, would have told 
him, no doubt, that paternal cares and anxieties play 
the deuce with one’s nervous system. Not that Lord 
Middlewood could fairly complain of the manner in 
which either his son or his daughter had so far treated 
him; but his nervous system did not happen to be a 
robust one, and, as has been mentioned, he did not pos- 


8 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


sess that control over the purse-strings which confers 
ultimate power and authority upon the House of Com- 
mons. To have a son who is a richer man than you are 
yourself is to occupy an anomalous position, while Betty 
would, of course, have been an anomaly even if she 
had not had the certainty of inheriting the whole of 
her grandmother’s property. Riches, like poverty, have 
their drawbacks, and Lord Middlewood, who had been 
hard up during the earlier years of his life, sometimes 
felt disposed to murmur at the conditions under which 
an old age of ease and prosperity had been granted to 
him. However, he had heard excellent reports of this 
young St. Quintin, who was distantly related to many 
noble families, and who, it might be hoped, would re- 
strain Lionel at a critical period of life from making 
a fool of himself. And when the newcomer was con- 
ducted into the library to be introduced, he decidedly 
liked the look of him. 

“ I am delighted to make your acquaintance, sir,” 
said he, in his courteous, old-fashioned way. We have 
very little to offer you in the shape of amusement here, 
I am afraid; but you will be released at the end of a 
week, and in the meantime there will be the shooting 
for you — such as it is.” 

To himself — for, indeed, he was a sufficiently shrewd 
old fellow, who, as diplomatist, politician, and sports- 
man, had learned to judge men quickly in his day — he 
thought, “ This is the right type — simple, not too 
stupid, and a gentleman. Probably armed witli religious 
convictions of some sort. Ho great fear of cards, or 
French actresses, or Oriental orgies in his company, I 
should say. Looks as if he kept himself in tolerably 
hard physical condition too — which is important, in 
view of the fact that one wishes him to serve as an object 
lesson.” 

These rapid reflections were made while St. Quintin 
was expressing a very sincere admiration for the impos- 
ing edifice which had been erected at an enormous out- 
lay by Lord Middlewood’s grandfather. It was in 


LORD MIDDLEWOOD’S CHILDREN. 


9 


truth a very fine, if somewhat gloomy, example of the 
Palladian order of architecture, and, on account of its 
vast, stiff gardens and the art treasures which it con- 
tained, had always been considered one of the show 
places of England. Its present owner smiled, and re- 
marked: — 

“ I doubt whether you would think so highly of 
Middlewood if you were condemned to live here. Noth- 
ing is more miserably uncomfortable than a house which 
has no small rooms. Besides, it has almost been the 
ruin of us, and that gives one a grudge against it. 
Lionel, who has a really charming house of his own, 
will he well advised if he sets fire to this gigantic white 
elephant on the day of my funeral.'’^ 

“ Perhaps my own obsequies may have been solem- 
nised before then,^^ said Lionel. 

My dear fellow, I am afflicted, or blessed, with 
at least three mortal diseases; I have the highest medi- 
cal authority for saying so. That is one reason why I 
must beg Mr. St. Quintin to see that you do not go 
out tiger shooting on foot, or visit cholera-stricken 
regions. It is so clearly your duty to marry and beget 
an heir without unnecessary loss of time! As for me, 
I shall endeavour, in spite of the doctors, to hang on 
until you return from your travels. More than that 
I can scarcely be expected to undertake.” 

With his waxen pallor, his round shoulders, and the 
slow languor of his movements. Lord Middlewood did 
not look as if longevity could he expected of him by any 
reasonable man; but he had been more or less of an 
invalid for years past, and he was neither more nor 
less ill than usual now. His youth had been somewhat 
stormy, his mature age politically distinguished; in the 
evening of life he had withdrawn from public affairs, 
and had taken to watching his health — in the absence 
of anything else to watch, save the ways and manners 
of his singularly independent children. St. Quintin, 
who, though not quick, was observant, felt sorry for 
him, without quite knowing why. 


10 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Dinner was served two hours later at a small round 
table in an enormous dining-room, and as there were, 
for the moment, no other visitors in the house, Betty 
played hostess with an ease and aplomb which promised 
well for the future. 

“ It seems that you don’t count,” she remarked to 
her brother’s friend. “ As a general thing, when we 
have people staying with us I dine up stairs, because 
I am supposed to be still in the schoolroom. You 
might not think it to look at him, hut my father is a 
rigid, unbending disciplinarian.” 

“ I do my best to maintain discipline,” Lord Mid- 
dlewood said; but the truth is that I am not allowed 
to be master in my own house, and any order that I 
may make so bold as to give is treated with calm con- 
tempt. Upon what conditions did I give you leave to 
drive those ponies, Betty?” 

The girl laughed, showing those white little teeth 
which had already won St. Quintin’s respectful admira- 
tion. 

Dear old man,” she remonstrated, why did you 
go fussing out to the stables, and asking questions? 
It was all right; I haven’t a scratch upon me, nor have 
the ponies.” 

“ You did upset the cart then? ” returned her father. 

I thought as much! I may say that I never fuss, 
and I haven’t been to the stables all day; but you 
were pleased to drive tandem down the avenue under 
my very nose. I beg to intimate that you will not do 
such a thing again.” 

I don’t suppose I shall,” said Betty, with a sigh. 

Not yet awhile, anyhow; for I have had a little mis- 
fortune with the harness. Now, don’t swear, Lionel; 
the repairs shall be executed at my own expense, 
and we didn’t exactly turn over. Only I was 
obliged to put off my visit to granny, which I was sorry 
for.” 

Lionel looked as if he might be going to say some- 
thing which the occasion would have justified; but 


ST. QUINTIN TAKES NOTES. 


11 


before he could open his lips his father struck in hastily 
with: — 

Oh, ITl pay for a new set of harness, upon the 
condition that it shall be put away somewhere where the 
sight of it won’t act as a temptation. Which of us 
can always rise superior to temptation? Perhaps not 
even you, Lionel, if the evidence of your friend Mr. 
Strahan is to be believed. Suppose we change the sub- 
ject.” 

The subject was accordingly changed, but the above 
speech, with its unexpected allusion, caused both the 
young men to redden slightly. One of them thought 
it a very odd and irrelevant thing to have said; the 
other, who knew his father’s peculiarities, accepted it 
with good humour, though he did not altogether 
like it. 


CHAPTER II. 

ST. QUINTIN TAKES NOTES. 

That was quite characteristic of him,” Lionel re- 
marked to his friend later in the evening, when Lord 
Middlewood had dismissed the two young men to bil- 
liards and cigars. He knows a lot and says precious 
little until the fancy takes him. He has never spoken 
a word to me about that miserable business, and I was 
in hopes that he hadn’t heard of it. But he was afraid 
I was going to scold Betty, and he can’t bear her to 
be scolded; so I suppose he thought that was as good 
a way as another of shutting me up.” 

You had nothing to do with it; your name would 
not have been mentioned in connection with the affair 
if that fellow Strahan had not dragged it in to shield 
himself,” said St. Quintin, scoring rather neatly off the 
red. 


12 


MAEIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Oh, well, I knew the poor girl, and I used to see 
a good deal of her, just as he and half a dozen others 
did. I’m sure he was very welcome to mention my 
name, and it seems to me that he was entitled to clear 
himself from false suspicions by doing so. He gave his 
evidence in a thoroughly straightforward manner, 
whereas Brydon thought it more prudent to disappear. 
Consequently, we now know pretty well which horse 
to saddle. One doesn’t want to speak ill of the dead; 
hut the fact, of course, is that poor Maggie Field was — 
what she was, and what has happened to Brydon might 
have happened to any of us.” 

I don’t know,” answered St. Quintin deliberately, 
what has happened to Brydon, who was a very great 
fool, I admit, to run away. I know what couldn’t have 
happened to you or me. I’m not so sure that it couldn’t 
have happened to Strahan.” 

You mean that we couldn’t have perjured our- 
selves, and that you believe he did? Isn’t that rather 
unfair upon a man whom you dislike?” 

St. Quintin, who had got the balls together, made a 
break of fifteen before replying, I dare say I am un- 
fair. Anyhow, he has marched off with flying colours; 
so nothing that I say or think can do him any harm. 
I don’t deny that I dislike him.” 

“ I should say that you are absolutely the only man 
of his acquaintance who does,” remarked Lionel. A 
better all-round fellow than Strahan never stepped, and 
I think you’ll find, too, that he will make himself heard 
of in the world. I only wish I had half his brains, I 
know! ” 

Oh, he’s clever, no doubt.” 

Yes; and it’s a thousand pities that he should be 
dismissed to Australia to earn his living, when he might 
have had a brilliant career at home — though perhaps, 
all things considered, he is wise to go. Mind you, this 
scandal, out of which you say he has come with flying 
colours, hasn’t done him any good. In such cases 
there are always plenty of people, like you, to shake 


ST. QUINTIN TAKES NOTES. 13 

their heads and hint that the whole truth hasn’t tran- 
spired.” 

The whole truth concerning a recent tragedy which 
had caused no little stir in Oxford and its neighbour- 
hood certainly had not transpired; but when suspicion 
attaches to various persons, of whom one takes to his 
heels, without leaving any address behind him, the situ- 
ation can scarcely be accounted bewildering. The un- 
fortunate girl who had been found drowned in the 
river, and whose reasons for having sought death were 
only too clearly established, had been pronounced by 
a coroner’s jury to have committed suicide while in 
an unsound state of mind. There had not been, nor 
could there have been, any suggestion of foul play; 
but several undergraduates had been summoned lo give 
evidence, and one of them, Brydon by name, had failed 
to respond. From that circumstance conclusions had 
naturally been drawn which had exculpated Lionel’s 
friend Strahan, who might otherwise have found him- 
self in a somewhat awkward position. 

“ Well, I don’t think your father should have said 
that about your yielding to temptation,” resumed St. 
Quintin, after a pause. If I were you I should tell him 
that ” 

“Bless your soul!” interrupted Lionel, “he didn’t 
mean anything; he knows as well as you do that I 
should never allow another man to be made a scape- 
goat for me. All he wanted was to stop me from haul- 
ing Betty over the coals and to give me a gentle re- 
minder that he had his eye upon me. He’ll always have 
his eye upon me, poor old fellow, and for a long time 
to come he’ll be in terror lest he should see some un- 
welcome sight. I don’t mind betting an even fiver that 
he asks you to write to him every now and then while 
we are away.” 

“ I shall be very happy to write to him,” St. Quin- 
tin declared; “ for I know I shall have nothing to re- 
port which he ought not to be very happy to hear.” 

That sounded like a rather bold assertion to make 


14 


MAEIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


about anybody of Lionel Mallet’s years and means; but 
in reality it was justified by experience. There are 
young men who, without being pious or priggish or 
visibly different from their compeers, may be trusted 
never to go wrong, and Lionel belonged to that select 
band. St. Quintin’s admiration and affection for him 
rested primarily upon a conviction that he would under 
any conceivable circumstances behave like a gentleman, 
and secondarily upon a sense of personal obligation 
which was perhaps exaggerated. For St. Quintin, who 
was incurably modest, could not help feeling that he 
owed some gratitude to this brilliant and popular friend 
of his for consenting to be his friend. He was, however, 
Lionel’s superior at billiards; so he won the game 
easily enough, and neither success nor the resultant 
half-crown was grudged to him. Lionel was too generous 
and too rich to grudge success or money to any man 
who had earned those desirable rewards. 

The tables were turned on the following day, when 
the two young men went out shooting together, and 
when Lionel conclusively proved himself a far better 
shot than his guest. When they reached home at 
nightfall they found Lady Maria Halsted drinking tea 
all by herself in the library, and she greeted them 
with — 

Oh, here you are! Middlewood has gone off to 
write letters which he pretends are urgent, and I don’t 
know what has become of Betty. But I said I should 
wait for you, because I wanted to see Mr. St. . Quintin, 
whose father and grandfather I remember very well. 
Excellent men, both of them, and not more extravagant 
than we were in those days; but money came to us, 
Avhereas it didn’t come to them. So here we are, while 
they — aren’t anywhere.” 

What — not even in the Kingdom of Heaven, which 
we can only hope to gain by passing through the eye 
of /a needle?” asked Lionel. “It’s well for you that 
your pet parsons can’t hear you making such unortho- 
dox statements, granny.” 


ST. QUINTIN TAKES NOTES. 


15 


‘‘1 suit my conversation to my company/^ Lady 
Maria returned. In this house only worldly language 
is understood, and from a worldly point of view the 
St. Quintins have ceased to exist. I am very sorry 
for it; though I am glad to recognize a survival of 
the family features upon the countenance of your friend. 
His people have always worn beaks, and always had 
worse luck than they deserved — such are the inscrutable 
decrees of Providence. Go away, Lionel, and change 
your wet boots while I talk to him.” 

St. Quintin had often heard of this bright-eyed little 
old lady, who was now a notorious and active supporter 
of the evangelical party, but whose past life had been 
largely concerned with the affairs of this present world. 
Her first husband, who had died without succeeding to 
the title, had been replaced by Mr. Halsted, a retired. 
Manchester merchant of considerable fortune, who had 
not long survived him, and it was believed that the 
actual Lord Middlewood had been set upon his legs 
at a critical period by the timely assistance of the 
dowager. However that might be, money, as she said, 
had come to the Mallets; they had more than enough 
of it now, and of her o’wn share a goodly portion was 
devoted to charity. Her ready benevolence had caused 
her name to be blessed by every undeserving writer 
of begging letters in the kingdom, her friends were 
as the sands of the sea-shore in number, and her indis- 
cretions were a by-word amongst her near relatives. To 
how great an extent she was capable of being indiscreet 
was shown by the first thing that she said after her 
grandson had obediently left the room. 

“Why this journey?” she inquired. “Middlewood 
is so absurdly reticent that it is useless to ask him 
the most natural questions; but I canT imagine 
that he would be so eager to pack Lionel off to the 
ends of the earth unless there had been a scrape of some 
sort.” 

“ There has been no scrape at all that I know of,” 
answered St. Quintin. “I suppose Lord Middlewood 


16 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


thinks that his son had better travel a little before set- 
tling down.” 

Lady Maria looked rather disappointed. There 
was a poor girl who drowned herself at Oxford and with 
whom Lionel seems to have been intimate/^ she re- 
- marked. I read all about it in the papers. But per- 
haps you wouldn’t call that a scrape? ” 

Nobody could,” St. Quintin declared. He had 
no more to do with the unhappy girl’s misfortunes 
than I had.” 

And one can see with half an eye that you would 
never have anything to do with the misfortunes of any 
girl. That is why you have been placed in charge of 
the hope of the family, I presume; and I don’t for a 
moment doubt the wisdom of the choice. All the 
same, I prefer to hear of a scrape or two at starting 
in the case of young fellows situated as Lionel is. It 
stands to reason, you see, that they must make fools 
of themselves in some way, and if they don’t do so in 
the ordinary way, they may break one’s heart by marry- 
ing beneath them or becoming red-hot Radicals.” 

St. Quintin said he had no reason to suppose that 
Lionel was in danger of such aberrations from the clear 
path of duty. 

“ Ah, well! ” sighed the old lady, one never knows. 
He has some queer blood in his veins, and the Mallets 
are an obstinate race. Middlewood gave me a great 
deal of anxiety at one time; but fortunately it was im- 
possible to interfere with him. So he had his fling, 
and turned out a perfectly respectable person, as you 
know. My opinion is that every man — or at least 
every man of that sort; I don’t speak of good, quiet 
creatures like you — ought to have his fling. It’s much 
the safest plan.” 

Then she recollected herself and hastened to add: 

Of course I am only reasoning as Middlewood, who 
is a man of the world, poor fellow, might be expected 
to reason. Personally, I have long since realised the 
vanity of human greatness and the decitfulness of 


ST. QUINTIN TAKES NOTES. 


17 


riches; if my own wishes and prayers conld be granted, 
my grandson would become another Lord Shaftesbury. 
But I am afraid that they are not at all likely to be 
granted/’ 

'' Well, not very,” agreed St. Quintin. '' The type 
is a rather antiquated one, don’t you think so ? ” 

Lady Maria chuckled; the young man’s meditative- 
ly serious air amused her. That,” she replied, is 
what I always say to Mr. Grace — Mr. Grace is our vicar, 
I should tell you, and a most earnest, admirable man. 
I always say to him that we can’t raise the necessary 
funds for prosecuting Eitualists because we are out of 
the fashion. It is such a fatal mistake to he out of the 
fashion! — speaking, I mean, from a merely mundane 
point of view. Not that it makes any real difference.” 

“ What makes no difference? ” inquired St. Quintin, 
somewhat bewildered. 

Well, this or that school of religious opinion. A 
man must first be regenerate.” 

But you said just now that he ought to start by 
having his fling.” 

Lady Maria laughed again. “Did I really? It was 
a shocking speech for a Christian woman to make, and 
I beg that you won’t repeat it, Mr. St. Quintin. What 
I must have intended to say was that some methods of 
indulging in a fling are infinitely more disastrous than 
others, and that if Lionel does not break out in some 
direction, he will be very unlike his father and his 
grandfather — not to mention his sister, who is the most 
headstrong little dev — who is a difficult child to man- 
age. I shouldn’t wonder if you were to find Lionel 
rather difficult to manage.” 

“ But I don’t undertake to manage him,” St. Quin- 
tin protested. “ How can I ? ” 

“ You will be expected to do it, all the same. That 
is, you will he expected to bring him back safe and 
sound, and you will not be forgiven if you fail. There- 
fore, if you will be advised by me, you will exercise a 
careful supervision over his associates in foreign parts. 


18 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


I speak in your interest; for your career, as you must 
be aware, will probably depend upon Middlewood’s 
goodwill. He is out of politics, it is true; but he has 
influence, and there are still snug appointments which 
are open to young barristers wdio are influentially 
backed. In short, it would never do for you to let 
Lionel engage himself to some wandering widow — a 
thing which has been known to happen on a voyage 
before now, I believe.’^ 

The reappearance of the subject of her solicitude 
prevented her from expatiating further upon the perils 
wLich might possibly lie before him. Presently she was 
driven away in her heavy yellow barouche behind her 
fat horses — a quaint little figure. Lady Maria wore 
bonnets which must have been specially manufactured 
for her, since nobody else has worn bonnets of that 
shape during the past half century or more; her gray 
hair was arranged in the style commemorated by early 
portraits of the Sovereign of these realms. Why she 
affected black silk gloves it is impossible to say; they 
may have been symbolic of piety and humility. The 
general effect, at any rate, which she produced, as she 
sat upright in her carriage, was that of a very great 
lady, and in all probability her humble piety was com- 
patible with a desire to achieve some such effect. 

Miss Mallet, who emerged from an adjacent place 
of concealment immediately after her grandmother’s de- 
parture, wanted to know how many calumnious asser- 
tions had been made respecting her in the course of 
an interview which she had been careful not to inter- 
rupt. 

“ To the best of my belief, your name wasn’t so 
much as mentioned,” replied her brother. You 
aren’t important yet, Betty; your time will come when 
you are a little older. For the present I obscure all 
lesser lights, and it was necessary to turn me out of 
the room in order that St. Quintin might be entreated 
to drynurse me with care. You can see by his guilty 
looks that he has been promising to do his very best.” 


ST. QUINTIN TAKES NOTES. 


19 


I promised nothing/^ St. Quintin declared; I re- ' 
fused all responsibility.” 

“ But you can’t escape it, my dear fellow; I am 
sure granny must have pointed that out to you. What 
a lucky thing it is for you that my sobriety is only 
equalled by my common sense! Gambling doesn’t at- 
tract me, I have never been drunk, or wished to get 
drunk, in my life, and a more unimpressionable being ‘ 
doesn’t exist. So you and granny may sleep on both 
ears, as the French say.” 

He walked away across the thickly carpeted entrance- 
hall, remarking that he must write a few more letters 
before the post went out; whereupon Betty said abrupt- 
ly: “ Come and see the dogs, will you? ” 

St. Quintin put on his cap and accompanied her 
to the kennels hard by, where about a dozen terriers of 
various breeds, English, Scotch, and Irish, were exhibited 
to him by their mistress. He knew something about their 
points, and subjected them to a more or less intelligent 
criticism; but he soon discovered that his companion, 
who had been the winner of many prizes, was a good 
deal better informed than he. She had been fairly suc- 
cessful at shows, she told him, but there was very little 
use in going in for breeding unless you could do it 
upon a larger scale. 

Some day, when I have a house of n^ own, I shall 
build proper kennels, and give myself up to dogs more 
than I can here.” 

I should think,” said the matter-of-fact St. Quin- 
tin, that that would have to depend a good deal upon 
whether your husband happens to be a lover of dogs 
or not.” 

Oh, it isn’t at all certain that I shall have a hus- 
band; I think, upon the whole, I should be more com- 
fortable without one. Anyhow, the house will be mine; 
for I believe it is understood that when granny dies — 
which I hope won’t be for a great many years yet — 
Chelton is to come to me.” 

You are certain to marry,” said St. Quintin, in a 


20 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


tone of voice which implied that he rather deplored 
Miss Mallet’s inevitable fate. 

The queerest notions will find their way somehow 
into the best regulated minds, and this young man, 
whose mind was eminently sane and sensible, surprised 
himself in the act of envying the unknown person who 
was destined to share Miss Betty’s brilliant prospects. 
She was so very pretty; she looked so highly bred, with 
her short nose, her clear blue eyes, and her perfectly 
shaped lips; and there was, besides, an indefinable some- 
thing about her. But of course she was a mere child, 
while the involuntary dreamer was a grown man, ever 
so much older than she, and ever so far beneath her 
in social standing. He made haste to answer her quick 
rejoinder of Why? ” 

“ Because hundreds of people will want to marry 
you,” he said, “ and because it will he a most extraordi- 
nary thing if you don’t want to marry one of them. 
I only hope you won’t choose the wrong one! ” 

“ I shall choose the most impecunious one, if choose 
I must,” Betty returned. There will he the risk of his 
being a fortune-hunter; hut, tD set against that, there 
will he the certainty that he must come to me for his 
pocket-money. However, I dare say the wisest plan 
will be to remain single and breed terriers. It isn’t all 
roses to be an heiress.” 

Indeed it Ts not; and the philosophic St. Quintin, 
while inspecting the horses in the stables, whither he 
was next conducted, said to himself that a healthy young 
man who has his fortune yet to make is in some respects 
better off than persons whose fortunes are already made. 
These Mallets, with their wealth and their estates — 
of which they appeared to have one apiece — were scarce- 
ly, if at all, happier than their neighbours; it was easy 
to see that they were conscious of and oppressed by 
the inexorable law which decrees that the rich of this 
world, even less than the poor, shall be free. 

All the same, I am determined to have as good a 
time as I can,” said Betty, startling him by her sudden 


ST. QUINTIN TAKES NOTES. 


21 

retort to meditations which had not been translated 
into words. ‘‘ I shall insist upon that.^’ 

St. Quintin was not a lady’s man; it did not occur 
to him to reply that anything which Miss Mallet might 
be pleased to insist upon she would assuredly obtain. 
But he glanced at the girl’s bright young face and said, 
quite simply and honestly, Well, I hope you will 
have a good time. After all, I don’t know why you 
shouldn’t.” 

The only thing is that I am rather solitary. I 
wish you w^eren’t going away so soon; I have a notion 
that we should he friends, you and I. You don’t pre- 
tend to know more about terriers than you really do 
know, and though you didn’t mention the bay horse’s 
straight shoulder, I could see that you noticed it. How- 
ever, you will come back, perhaps, when you and Lionel 
have finished your globe-trotting.” 

If I am invited,” answered the young man, smil- 

ing. 

Oh, you’ll be invited. I send out almost all the 
invitations nowadays, and as I haven’t a single friend 
amongst our innumerable acquaintances, I shall not be 
likely to forget you. How, we’ll have a look at the 
poultry-yard, if you are not in a hurry.” 

I don’t wonder,” observed St. Quintin to Lionel 
that evening, at Lord Middlewood’s being a slave to 
your sister; I am sure that if I were her father I should 
be her slave.” 

Lionel laughed. She has always been a masterful 
brat,” said he; hut she is growing up at a deuce of 
a pace. She will soon have slaves of another kind at 
her feet.” 

Some Duke or other, I suppose ? ” 

“ Oh, not necessarily a Duke; granny is capable of 
marrying her to any Evangelical nobleman, and she 
will have to come out under granny’s wing, I take 
it.” 

But she will be bestowed upon some personage 
of high degree? ” 


22 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


“AVell — naturally. Will you give me my revenge 
at billiards before we go to bed? 


CHAPTER III. 

PONTE A SERRAGLIO. 

He, Marietta! — ohe! ’’ 

The cry, with a prolonged accent upon the last 
syllable, rang up the wooded valley, and reached the ears 
of the girl beneath the Spanish chestnut tree, who re- 
sponded in a clear contralto voice, Ecco!^^ 

She was a marvellously beautiful girl, eighteen years 
of age or thereabouts. Eyes of so soft and velvety a 
brown as hers, a complexion of such exquisite, healthy 
pallor, hair of such dusky luxuriance, belonged, as might 
be seen at a glance, to the favoured land where she was 
seated on that fine May afternoon. Yet she was only 
half an Italian, her father, who was shouting to her 
from the depths of the ravine above which she had 
taken up her station, being an Englishman by birth. 

Presently he came in sight, panting a little from 
the labour of the ascent; for, despite his square 
shoulders, his well-set-up figure, and his spruce, mili- 
tary carriage. Colonel Vigne was no longer as active 
as he had been when he had fought in the Austrian 
ranks as a stripling at the battle of Novara. He had 
been a handsome fellow in those far-away days; he 
was a handsome old gentleman still — his white mous- 
tache carefully waxed, the rest of his face not less care- 
fully shaved, his frayed linen spotless, and his thread- 
bare clothes fitting him to perfection. Few observers 
would have taken him for an Englishman; travelled 
observers would have recognised at once in his bearing 
the unmistakable mark of the Kaiserlich-Koniglich 


PONTE A SERRAGLIO. 


23 


service; one or two might have fancied that they could 
detect in him certain warning characteristics of the cos- 
mopolitan adventurer. But these clever and discerning 
persons would have been mistaken; for he was only 
an adventurer in so far as that he had had a fair share 
of adventures, and no more of a cosmopolitan than a 
man who has renounced his nationality is compelled 
to be. The episode which had preceded his marriage 
with an Italian lady of high family and very small 
fortune had, to he sure, partaken of an adventurous 
and romantic character; hut even in the half-forgotten 
era of the hated Tedesco rule he had passed for a gallant 
man, and had escaped assassination by the readiness 
which he had ever displayed to exchange shots with 
aggrieved persons. But all that was very ancient his- 
tory; his fighting career was over and done with; he 
had been for many years a widower, and if he was now 
once more in Italy, that was only because he had no 
particular reason for being anywhere else, and because 
his daughter, who had been educated in a Tuscan con- 
vent, was after a fashion at home there. And it was 
in the Italian language, which he spoke quite fluently, 
that this elderly, jovial-looking warrior called out — 

I have been seeking you high and low. What 
have you been doing with yourself all these hours? ” 
The girl shrugged her shoulders and held up an 
open volume, which, to tell the truth, she had not been 
reading. “ I thought it would be fresher up here than 
in that stifling little hotel,” she answered discontent- 
edly; ^^but there is no fresh air to be had in this 
neighbourhood, and there is nothing to do, nothing to 
see. Oh, why do people come to the Bagni di Lucca? ” 
They do not,” said the Colonel, taking off his 
straw hat and mopping his forehead with a silk hand- 
kerchief. He was bald, but his baldness was partially 
concealed by long streaks of grey hair, which were 
trained over his head from a parting just above his left 
ear. It is a very long time ago that the Baths of Lucca 
ceased to be fashionable. Nowadays people go to 


24 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Switzerland, to the Tyrol, who knows where? That 
is why one lives so cheaply at Ponte a Serraglio, and 
that is why you and I are here, fanciulla mia. I have 
been talking to those two young Englishmen who ar- 
rived last night; I have been trying to persuade them 
to stay a week and make excursions. They are pleasant 
young men; I enjoyed talking to them. They re- 
minded me — ah! Dio mio ! — they reminded me of 
people and things about which you know nothing at 
all.^^ 

The girl turned, wuth perceptibly quickened interest, 
towards her father, who had seated himself upon the 
ground beside her. 

Who are they? she asked. Did you discover 
their names? Are they lords? The good-looking one 
seemed to me to have an aristocratic air.^^ 

He has not stolen it,” Colonel Vigne replied; it 
belongs to him by right of inheritance. He is the only 
son of Lord Middlewood; I remember reading in an 
English paper some time ago that he has an independent 
fortune, in addition to being his father’s son. He and 
his friend have been spending the winter in India and 
Egypt. They were at Rome for Easter, and now they 
are on their way home. But they do not want to hurry, 
he says, because he dislikes the idea of a long London 
season. Perhaps he means that he dislikes the idea of 
marrying, and that his people are in a hurry to get him 
married.” 

“How fortunate he is! — oh, how fortunate!” mur- 
mured Marietta pensively. 

This ejaculation was made in English — for, indeed. 
Marietta Vigne was equally at home in three, if not 
four, languages — and in the same tongue her father 
responded philosophically — 

“ Well, I don’t know so much about that. It is 
pleasant to he rich, hut it is pleasanter still to have 
your own way; and a man so wealthy and important 
as Mr. Mallet can by no means be permitted to take 
his own way. Upon my honour, I do not envy him. 


PONTE A SERRAGLIO. 


25 


Such as I am, I find myself very well satisfied, with my 
half-pay and my small savings — and my daughter.” 

He stretched out his brown hand to clasp the slim, 
white one which lay listlessly upon Marietta's lap, and 
received from her fingers the somewhat perfunctory 
pressure which she had learnt to accord in answer to such 
caressing invitations. Her father, it seemed, was fond 
of her; though it was hut recently that she had become 
his permanent companion. She also was fond of him; 
hut she really did not feel able to share his satisfaction 
with the wandering, Bohemian life which they were 
apparently destined to lead. To be beautiful, to be ac- 
complished, to he fully conscious of advantages which 
have always commanded the world’s admiration, and to 
be condemned to the society of second-rate hotels and 
pensions — no, that is not the fate which any girl of 
eighteen can be expected to accept with philosophic 
resignation. 

Yet we have also titled relations — whom we never 
see,” she sighed irrelevantly. I dare say our blood 
is as good as this Mr. Mallet’s.” 

The Colonel’s good-humoured countenance clouded 
over. My father was an officer in the British army; 
my grandfather was a London physician,” he said; 

we have always belonged to what are known in Eng- 
land as the professional classes. With your poor, dear 
mother’s family I have never been upon speaking terms. 
They regarded her marriage as a mesalliance — not to 
say an act of treachery to her country; for at that time 
patriotic feeling in Italy ran very high, and no Italian 
lady was permitted to look at a white uniform. Changes 
have taken place, it is true; hut we shall never he for- 
given; and why should we wish to be? These Duchesses 
and Princesses, who live with difficulty in corners of 
their great, gloomy palaces, are neither happy them- 
selves, nor could they make you happy. Marietta mia. 
I could wish that you had never even heard of them. 
Do we not suffice to one another, you and I ? ” 

The girl smiled upon him, but did not reply. She 


26 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


was glad to think that she sufficed to this kindly, elderly 
gentleman, whose duties had kept him apart from her 
during nearly the whole of her adolescence, and whose 
undisguised pride in her beauty and talents was wel- 
come enough to her; but his life was ending, wffiereas 
hers was beginning; it was impossible to pretend that 
she had no vision, no dream, no ambition beyond that 
of brightening his declining years. Other girls, who 
had been educated with her, were about to he presented 
at Court, introduced to fashionable society, married 
eventually to noblemen; while she — admittedly their 
superior at all points — was to be relegated to dull, 
bourgeois obscurity. Was it surprising that she should 
envy them, or that she should have a sense of being 
somewhat hardly used? Granddaughter of a mere Lon- 
don doctor? Yes; hut granddaughter also of no less 
a personage than the late Prince Magliacci. Was it 
not absurd to treat such lineage as a matter of no im- 
portance ? 

Whether absurdly or not, it was thus that Colonel 
A^igne seemed bent upon treating the fact of his con- 
nection by marriage with the Magliacci family. Per- 
haps he was proud, perhaps he was genuinely indifferent; 
in any case, he did not like his daughter to allude to 
her maternal relatives, and was wont, whenever she did 
so, to change the subject as speedily as might he. 

These young Englishmen,” he resumed presently, 
after he had made himself comfortable, with his head 
in the shade and his feet in the sun, and had lighted 
a long black cigar, are agreeable, intelligent fellows. 
They are fond of music, they say; they were delighted 
with the opera at Naples. After dinner this evening 
you shall sing for them. Marietta. I think they will 
he astonished.” 

He laughed and rubbed his hands, in anticipation 
of the treat which awaited the strangers; hut he had 
no ulterior motive for indulging in that innocent gesture 
of glee. At once a man of the world and a simple 
creature. Colonel Vigne knew very well that the future 


PONTE A SERRAGLIO. 


27 


Lord Middlewood must be an impossible candidate for 
bis daughter’s hand; and for the rest — he was a father, 
not a mother. Some day or other his only child would, 
no doubt, marry; but he was not personally eager to 
precipitate that event. He was happy in the present, 
with its irresponsible leisure and its charming physical 
environment; cares for the future did not as yet oppress 
him. 

A few hours later he seated himself at the head of 
the table d’hote table in the well-nigh deserted hotel 
at Ponte a Serraglio, Marietta being placed on his left 
hand, while Lionel Mallet occupied the chair on his 
right, and such was his unaffected geniality that the 
newly arrived travellers were soon upon terms approach- 
ing intimacy with him and his daughter. 

“ We will show you this country,” the Colonel 
amiably promised. Hitherto we have made no expedi- 
tions, because the weather has been so hot and we have 
been so lazy; but there are plenty of excursions to be 
made, and, now that we have an inducement, we will 
exert ourselves. It is a lovely neighbourhood.” 

Marvellously so,” Lionel Mallet agreed, with his 
eyes fixed upon the immediate neighbourhood of his 
interlocutor, which, to be sure, provided a spectacle 
lovely enough to gratify the most fastidious taste. I 
am very glad that we thought of coming here,” he 
added. Marietta smiled at him over the big black fan 
which she was manipulating. She had been nurtured 
in a convent; but bon chien chasse de race, and this 
handsome young Englishman’s eyes had spoken to her 
in a language which her sex enabled her to interpret 
without the slightest difficulty. 

It is we who are glad,” she said; “ we were simply 
perishing for lack of something to talk to.” 

Her English, though easy and fluent, had a sus- 
picion of foreign accent which lent attractiveness to it; 
she was neither shy nor self-conscious; she had put on 
her newest and most becoming frock. No wonder that 
the grave and observant St. Quintin, glancing from her 
3 


28 


MAKIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


to the friend whom he was in honour hound to restore 
to Derbyshire intact, hoisted a mental danger-signal. 
So far, Lionel had given him no cause at all for uneasi- 
ness. Their somewhat hasty journey through India 
had resolved itself practically into a sporting tour; at 
Cairo they had been entertained chiefly by official per- 
sonages, who had bored them both, while in Rome they 
had preferred to he simple tourists and mislay letters 
of introduction. But this semi-Italian, semi-English 
young lady, at whom Lionel was gazing with such ob- 
vious appreciation of her beauty, looked rather alarm- 
ing. It would be well to avoid excursions in her com- 
pany, St. Quintin thought, and to push on towards 
Milan and the lakes, according to programme. But, 
unfortunately, the revision or the carrying out of pre- 
arranged programmes did not depend upon him; nor, 
after he had heard Marietta sing, did he require to he 
told that his travelling companion would insist upon 
modifications. For Lionel had a more or less cultivated 
musical ear, while Marietta Vigne was gifted with one 
of those contralto voices which half-a-dozen women, 
on an average, are so fortunate as to possess in the course 
of each century. 

She might — so she had been assured by persons quali- 
fied to speak authoritatively — make her fortune upon 
the operatic stage; she had often thought of the stage, 
in default of the realisation of other ambitions; such 
mild triumphs as she had already secured had been 
sweet to her, and she complied willingly with her 
father’s suggestion when the party adjourned after din- 
ner to the small public salon, where there was a wheezy 
piano. 

The few remaining sojourners in the hotel, two Eng- 
lish old maids, an unkempt German professor and 
others, drew near to listen to a performance which had 
not been undertaken for their benefit; a polyglot mur- 
mur of respectful admiration saluted the performer, 
as she arose from her music-stool and walked across 
the room to the open French window; it was only 


PONTE A SEERAGLIO. 


29 


natural and what might have been expected that Lionel 
Mallet, not content to associate himself with the gen- 
eral applause, should follow her. Presently the pair 
strolled out into the balmy night, in search of fireflies 
or moonlight effects, leaving the Colonel to light his 
cigar and St. Quintin to say, with an emphasis which 
was scarcely* courteous : 

It is awfully kind of you to talk of showing us the 
country hereabouts; but I^m afraid we ought to be off'. 
Our time is getting short. 

“ Oh, don’t be in a hurry — don’t be in a hurry,” 
returned the old gentleman good-humouredly. “ For 
young fellows like you time can’t be short; though you 
will find holiday times grow shorter and shorter as you 
grow older. Grant us a poor week out of your super- 
fluity, and I am sure you will never regret it. Not 
that I can pretend to be an altogether disinterested sup- 
pliant. The fact is that I want to give my daughter 
any little amusement I can, and it isn’t every day that I 
am able to lay my hand upon suitable companions of 
her own age for her.” 

Well, that was candid, to say the least of it. St. 
Quintin judged it appropriate to remark in dubious 
accents, Suitable ? ” 

Colonel Vigne removed his cigar from his mouth. 
The lamplight, streaming through the open window, fell 
upon the low chair in which he was seated and illumined 
an honest countenance which wore a slightly pained 
expression. 

“ Suitable in respect of years and of your being both 
gentlemen, I meant,” he explained gravely. Of course 
I am well aware of the great social difference between 
your friend and my daughter, which constitutes, if I 
may so, her protection. But for that, I should have 
to be more careful; for you will easily understand 
that extra precautions are necessary in the case of a 
motherless girl who has only an old man to look after 
her.” 

St. Quintin drew back into the darkness to conceal 


30 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


his blushes. “I — I beg your pardon,” he stammered 
penitently; “ I am always saying stupid things! ” 

But it was not, after all, so very stupid to scent pos- 
sible cause for disquietude in the prolonged absence of 
Lionel and the lovely Marietta, nor did it exactly fol- 
low that because the one was of too high rank to offer 
marriage to the other, both might claim exemption 
from the accidents to which frail human nature is liable. 
Colonel Vigne, oddly enough, seemed to think that it 
did. He chatted agfeeably and without any outward 
show of uneasiness for the next half-hour, and when 
his daughter reappeared, escorted by a young man who 
chanced to be carrying her fan for her, he had no com- 
plaint to make, except that he had been kept a long 
time waiting for the T)Tolese ballads, which he pre- 
ferred to more ambitious vocal compositions. 

So Marietta returned to the piano and sang ‘‘ Madele, 
ruck, ruck, ruck,” followed by other ditties of a like 
simple character, until it was pronounced by paternal 
authority to be high time for her to say good-night 
to the company. 

Well, as I said before,” remarked Lionel, when 
he was left alone with his friend, I’m uncommonly 
glad we thought of coming here.” 

H’m! I don’t know that I am,” returned St. Quin- 
tin bluntly. Oh, I quite agree with every word that 
you are going to say about the girl. She is splendidly 
handsome, and she sings like an angel, and all the rest 
of it. That is just why I should like to get back to 
Lucca in time to catch the train for Milan to-morrow, 
if you don’t mind.” 

My dear fellow, don’t be such an ass! You know 
very well — or you ought to know — that I am not the 
sort of man to fall in love with a chance acquaintance, 
about whose antecedents I know nothing. At least, I 
do know something about them, because she has been 
telling me; and very interesting it was. But I assure 
you that I no more intend to make love to her than I 
intend to leave this to-morrow. We’ll stay a week, and 


ADMIRATION AND DISCRETION. 


31 


subtract a few days, if we must, from those hackneyed 
Italian lakes. Don’t shake your head, old man, I have 
made up my mind.” 

What is to be done with a man who has made up 
his mind and who is his own master? St. Quintin could 
think of nothing else to do but to continue shaking his 
head. 


CHAPTER IV. 

ADMIRATION AND DISCRETION. 

And what do you think of my young English- 
men?” Colonel Vigne inquired of his daughter, whom 
he had conducted as far as her bedroom door. 

Marietta shrugged her shoulders. ‘^I do not know 
them yet,” she answered. The one who was talking 
to you seemed to me to be rather proud and stupid. 
He looked at me as if he distrusted me, and after I had 
done singing I heard him whistle one of my songs nearly 
a semitone flat under his breath. He did not please 
me; I am sure he fancies himself very superior to us.” 

Oh, he is an honest, modest fellow; he means no 
harm,” the Colonel declared, laughing. But what 
about the other? — what about the one who was talk- 
ing to you, my dear? ” 

He is handsome,” was Marietta’s verdict, delivered 
after a long pause for consideration. 

Is that all? ” 

Surely that is a good deal when it is added to every 
other advantage that the heart of man can desire! But 
it is not all. I found him also — sympathetic.” 

Marietta mm,” said her father gravely, you must 
beware of finding him too much so. Now, this is a 
warning for which I do not believe that there is any 
necessity, and in a few days’ time we shall have seen 


32 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


the last that we are ever likely to see of Mr. Mallet. 
But girls are apt to take romantic fancies into their 
heads, and you have no mother to put you on your 
guard against perils; so, to set myself at ease with my 
conscience, I ought to speak just one word. I ought 
to tell you that Mr. Mallet, though it is true that he has 
as yet no title of nobility, will some day he the head 
of a family which could never dream of allying itself 
with us.’^ 

Given the character and temperament of the person 
to whom it was addressed, the above caution could 
hardly have been worded in more unfortunate terms; 
hut Colonel Vigne, who was hut imperfectly acquainted 
with his daughter’s character and temperament, deemed 
her reply quite reassuring. 

“ Do not he alarmed,” she answered, smiling. Mr. 
Mallet is handsome and sympathetic; but he does not 
strike me as irresistible. Besides, he himself told me 
just now that he would be obliged before long to marry 
some great lady whom his family would select for him. 
Perhaps he thought, as you do, that it was only fair to 
nip any ambitious visions of mine in the bud.” 

It cannot be pretended on Lionel Mallet’s behalf 
that he had been actuated by motives at once so kindly 
and so fatuous; but it is a fact that he had made the 
statement alluded to in the course of his moonlight walk 
with Marietta; nor had he been denied the commisera- 
tion which he had appeared to solicit in response thereto. 
When two young people stroll out together by moon- 
light, it is not about the moon or the beauty of the 
mysterious landscape that they are wont to discourse. 
There is one subject which never fails to interest us all, 
) young or old, and as Lionel Mallet and Marietta Vigne 
happened, for the time being, to be interested in one 
another as well as in themselves, they had not been 
bored. If the gentleman had been rather more com- 
municative than the lady, that was because the latter 
had, or professed to have, next to nothing to communi- 
cate. Her life, with occasional breaks, had been spent 


ADMIRATION AND DISCRETION. 


33 


in a convent; with the outside world she was acquainted 
only by hearsay and through the medium of such works 
of fiction as she had been permitted to study; she 
had been brought up in the creed that a woman's duties 
are far more important than her pleasures, and that 
the duty of the vast majority of women is to become 
the mother of some judiciously selected man's children. 
But the seed of this admirable teaching had not fallen 
upon very favourable soil. Thought is free, even within 
the four walls of a convent; natural tendencies and 
aspirations are not to be excluded from the heart of man 
or woman in which they originate; and Marietta, who 
knew that she was well qualified to conquer the ap- 
plause of her fellow-creatures, secretly coveted that ap- 
plause above all things. For cherishing such an am- 
bition a girl of her great beauty and with her wonderful 
singing voice could not in justice be blamed. The 
admiration of the race to which we belong may not 
be worth much; but it is scarcely at the age of eighteen 
that one can be expected to have arrived at that rather 
melancholy conclusion; nor, indeed, is it certain that 
the conclusion is not a false one. So Marietta had a 
little bit of a grievance, and she had listened with pleas- 
ure to Mr. Mallet's earnest declaration that her father 
ought to take her to London. She was inclined to 
agree with him that English people should not he perma- 
nently domiciled abroad, while the somewhat imprudent 
promises to which he had seen fit to commit himself 
respecting the reception which awaited her in the capital 
of her native land had set her heart beating. 

It is quite out of the question to fall asleep so long 
as the heart remains in a state of abnormal activity. 
Marietta, therefore, lay awake for a long time, and in- 
dulged in waking dreams of an agreeable character. 
She saw herself singing to a great, fashionable audi- 
ence in the concert-room of some London palace; she 
saw Lord Middlewood (who doubtless possessed such a 
palace) presenting her to princes and princesses; she 
saw the society of England at her feet. But although 


34 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


her heart and her imagination played these strange 
pranks with her, neither was affected after the fashion 
against which she had been cautioned. She did not 
dream of marrying Mr. Mallet; she longed to be ad- 
mired by everybody, not to he adored by a single in- 
dividual; the admiration of the single individual, which 
she was conscious of having secured, was valuable to 
her solely as a means towards an end. 

Is it necessary to be noble in order to be admitted 
into London society? ” she inquired, on the following 
day, of the gentleman upon whose kindly aid she already 
counted. 

Not in the least,” answered Lionel, smiling; “ there 
are people who would tell you that it is a surer pass- 
port to be a little ignoble. But the truth is that there 
is no such thing as London society nowadays; it is a 
huge, unwieldy mob, which does not even pretend to be 

exclusive. You have only to be rich enough ” 

“ But we are ridiculously poor,” interrupted the 
girl. 

Well, that would prevent you from playing a very 
prominent part in the show; but it need not prevent 
you from looking on at it, which, I suppose, is what 
you wish for.” 

After all,” said Marietta meditatively, I am not 
sure that I would not rather he a prima donna. But 
I am afraid my father would never consent to my going 
upon the stage.” 

Oh, I should hope not! I don’t think that would 
do at all,” Lionel hastened to reply. 

But on being asked why it would not do, he was 
unable to bring forward very convincing reasons. He 
could hardly say “ Because you are much too beauti- 
ful; ” so he took refuge in generalities which, by com- 
mon consent, have long ago been pronounced out of 
date. Inexperienced and unsophisticated though she 
was, it was in her power to instance various tragedians-, 
comedians, and vocalists whom the aristocracy of Eu- 
rope had delighted to honour. ^^And, according to 


ADMIRATION AND DISCRETION. 35 

you/’ she added, there are more methods than one 
of obtaining admission into the best London houses.” 

It is unnecessary to force an open door/’ returned 
Lionel, who flattered himself that he possessed a latch- 
key and wished her to understand that it would be 
entirely at her service. Get your father to bring you 
to London and I will answer for the rest.” 

This decidedly rash undertaking was entered into 
upon the Prato Florito, a grassy slope of the mountain- 
side, whither the excursionists from Ponte a Serraglio 
had ascended. They had partaken of luncheon on that 
breezy height, which dominates the chestnut woods and 
the Bagni Caldi. St. Quintin had reluctantly accepted 
a cigar, and a suggestion from Colonel Vigne that they 
should stroll gently onwards and upwards. The scene, 
the weather, the hour, and the solitude were alike con- 
ducive to the utterance of rash speeches. However, 
Lionel abstained from further indiscretions, for he was 
really a cool-headed person, as well as a strictly honour- 
able one, and he would have deemed himself . greatly to 
blame had he seriously attempted to make love to a girl 
who did not, and never could, belong to his world. 

Their colloquy on this occasion lasted for twenty 
minutes or so, by the expiration of which time Mr. Mal- 
let’s head was a shade less cool than it had been at the 
outset. Discretion is all very well, but a too conspicuous 
display of that quality has never yet won the approval 
of a sex which instinctively prefers audacity; and 
Marietta only obeyed the irresistible behests of feminine 
nature when she essayed, by means of demure hints 
and glances, to shake her companion’s self-control a 
little. That task came as easily to her as it does to the 
rest of her sisters in arms. If, before sunset, she had 
not actually made him fall in love with her, she had 
brought him to the point of wishing with all his heart 
that he could allow himself to do so — which was pretty 
well for one afternoon’s work. 

And on the next day, and the next, and the day after 
that, a struggle which neither combatant acknowledged 


36 


MARIETTA'S MARRIAGE. 


to be such was renewed. All things considered, the re- 
sult could not he doubtful, although matters might 
have ended differently had the stimulus of opposition 
been withheld from two people who were not, after all, 
precisely made for one another. But St. Quintin deemed 
it his duty to lecture the one, while Colonel Vigne 
had occasional indirect admonitions to address to the 
other; so they took their respective bits between their 
respective teeth. Now, we all know that when a horse 
behaves in that way there is not the slightest use in 
tugging at his mouth. To keep his head straight may 
not be impossible; but he must perforce be allowed 
to go on until he is tired, and there is always the chance 
of his tiring before a catastrophe occurs. In other 
words, Lionel and Marietta could not be prevented from 
wandering off together into bosky glades and secluded 
nooks. St. Quintin (after having been once or twice 
roundly snubbed) could do no more than remind his 
friend of the swift passage of time, observe that a 
great batch of correspondence must be awaiting their 
arrival at Milan, and point out, at the end of a week, 
that the expeditions ofered by a charming locality had 
now been completely exhausted. 

All but one,” answered Lionel. We haven’t done 
the Bargilio yet, and we’re going to do it to-morrow. 

On the day after ” He paused, taking his under lip 

between his finger and thumb, and gazing pensively at 
the prospect from the window of the hotel by w'hich 
they were standing. 

On the day after, I hope and trust, we shall take 
ourselves off.” 

Well, yes; I suppose we had better. It is about 
time.” 

I think it is,” returned St. Quintin drily. Glad 
you agree with me.” 

He was glad, at any rate, that the hour of their 
departure might now be regarded as decided upon, and 
he hastened to impart the news to Colonel Vigne, who 
replied composedly: 


ADMIRATION AND DISCRETION. 


37 


So I hear from my daughter. I wish you could 
have remained a little longer; but we must not be 
ungrateful. We have to thank you both for some 
very pleasant days, and I dare say we shall add one to 
their number by this scramble up a steep mountain. 
It is a long climb, though. I am afraid I shall have 
to condescend to a donkey.” 

The climb to the ruined watch-tower in question, 
which sands upon a lofty peak whence the entire duchy 
of Lucca and the distant Mediterranean can be surveyed, 
proved indeed to he a long, hot and fatiguing one; hut the 
ColoneFs litle donkey was equal to the ascent. As for 
Marietta, who was similarly mounted, a certain pedes- 
train, plodding patiently in the rear, said to himself 
with grim jocularity that she was well provided for, 
since she had a spare ass at her elbow. That, however, 
was by no means the view which the young lady took 
of her neighbour, whom, as it chanced, she was just 
then complimenting upon his wisdom and strength of 
purpose. 

‘‘ I am sure you are quite right to hurry home,” she 
was saying; ^‘it would be such a pity to make your 
father anxious about you.” 

“ I am not hurrying, and I don’t think my father will 
be at all anxious,” Lionel answered in a slightly vexed 
tone; “but I have engagements in England which I must 
keep, if I can.” After a pause he asked, “ Have you said 
anything to your father about coming to London ? ” 

“ Yes,” replied the girl; “ but, as I expected, he does 
not think we shall be able to manage it this year. In- 
deed, it is very unlikely that we shall ever be able to 
manage it. Some day, perhaps, I may see London; but 
if I do, it will be as a public singer, whom I suppose 
you will not care to recognise.” 

“Do I deserve that sneer?” asked the young man 
with a reproachful glance. 

Marietta smiled. “ It is not a sneer; you have told 
me again and again that ladies and gentlemen do not 
recognise public singers in England.” 


38 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


I never said anything so absurd! Lionel protested. 

But he had in truth, during previous conversations, 
dwelt with some earnestness upon the equivocal social 
position occupied by the class to which she had alluded, 
and which he did not at all relish the notion of her 
joining. 

I thought you had,” returned the girl indifferent- 
ly. “ Anyhow, you said that a public singer must reach 
the top of the tree before she could expect to be noticed 
in private, and by the time that I have climbed to that 
height you will have clean forgotten that you were ever 
acquainted with me.” 

She did not seem anxious to prolong the discussion. 
She availed herself of some excuse to beckon to her 
father, who was seated very near to his donkey’s tail, 
and was placidly smoking a cigar beneath a spreading 
white umbrella. Lionel perceived that she was not 
best pleased with him, although he really did not know 
what he had done to offend her. St. Quintin could 
have told him, but St. Quintin would not have been 
believed. Common-sense has but a poor chance against 
fond illusion, and the obvious must ever remain the 
incredible to all true lovers. 

That Lionel Mallet had enlisted, against his will, 
in that vast flock of geese was a fact which he had 
been reluctantly forced to acknowledge. For his weal 
or for his woe — and much more probably for the latter 
than the former — he had fallen in love with a face and 
a voice: the only question was whether his newly-born 
passion could not he surmounted. To this also St. Quintin 
could have replied after a fashion at once consolatory 
and truthful; but it is not the habit of lovers to con- 
sult their friends upon such points. Moreover, what 
friend could have counselled a course more sober and 
judicious than that which the victim himself had re- 
solved to adopt? There was, to he sure, a certain lack 
of logic in running away from a danger and imploring 
it to follow; but that was of the less consequence since 
it seemed that the prayer was not to be granted. 


ADMIRATION AND DISCRETION. 


39 


^^Very kind of yon to wish it, Fm snre/’ Colonel 
Vigne said, soon afterwards, in answer to a remark 
which Lionel conld not refrain from making; “but I 
don^t see my way to visiting London just at present. 
Unless things have very much changed since I was a 
young man, London is about the most expensive city 
in the world.^^ 

Lionel could not say that London had changed in 
the direction of becoming a more economical place of 
residence; nor could he, as a bachelor, offer hospitality 
to homeless acquaintances. He looked rather sadly 
forth upon the wide expanse of hill, forest, and plain 
that lay beneath him, shimmering in the heat of a 
cloudless Italian day, while Marietta, who was unpack- 
ing the luncheon-basket, glanced over her shoulder to 
observe: 

Evidently one must have money before one can 
hope to see London; hut, after all, it is not impossible 
to make money. Perhaps the simplest plan will he for 
me to marry some rich old gentleman who has not 
many years of life before him. I shall begin to look 
out at once.” 

My child,” remonstrated the Colonel, with a look 
of grave annoyance, “ you ought not to make speeches 
which would be discreditable if they were true, and 
which you know very well that you do not mean.” 

Marietta, sitting upon her heels, displayed her white 
teeth in a laugh. Fadre mio/^ she returned; I mean 
every word of it! There is only one thing really dis- 
creditable, and that is to be poor. If you do not believe 
me, ask Mr. Mallet. I have learnt a great deal from 
him during the last few days.” 


40 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


CHAPTER V. 

FACTA EST ALEA. 

Despite the perfect weather, and the glorious pros- 
pect, and the refreshing breeze, and the agreeable 
loquacity of Colonel Vigne, that expedition to the ruined 
watch-tower of the Bargilio was not a success. When 
one person out of a party of four is bent upon spoiling 
everything, nothing can prevent him {a fortiori her) 
from succeeding; so Marietta contrived to make two 
of her companion rather uncomfortable, and the third 
thoroughly miserable. And w^hat rendered the punish- 
ment of the unhappy third especially cruel was his in- 
ability to gain her private ear for a single moment. Had 
she been pleased to accord him what he was at such 
undisguised pains to obtain, he might have inquired 
and ascertained the nature of his offence; but she chose 
to ignore hints which she had been willing enough to 
take on previous jaunts. She clung resolutely all day 
to her father, whom she vexed by giving occasional 
utterance to sentiments of an audaciously cynical char- 
acter; she provoked the patient St. Quintin into say- 
ing things which he did not wish to say, and then gave 
him to understand that he had behaved quite unlike 
a gentleman by saying them; as for Lionel, she neither 
looked at him nor deigned to reply when he spoke to 
her. 

How all this was, of course, extremely childish, and 
if she had been older and more experienced, she would 
have acted in a very different manner; yet, so great 
is the power of all women over all men, that, crude 
though her methods were, she attained her purpose, and 
by the time that the sun had begun to slope towards 
the west her victims had been reduced to that condi- 
tion of puzzled, apologetic uneasiness which is so fraught 
with peril to the male division of the race. Each of 
them would cheerfully have paid her a sum of money 


FACTA EST ALEA. 


41 


proportionate to his means not to do it any more. Her 
father, indeed, actually did go the length of offering 
her a bribe. 

Fanciulla mia” said he, “ you are out of sorts 
to-day; this hot sun has been too much for you. What 
can I do to put you in better spirits? There is the 
little diamond broach that you know of. I had meant 
to keep it for your birthday; hut, after all, why should ^ 
I make you wait ? 

He was promptly rewarded after a fashion very pleas- 
ing to him, and in the highest degree exasperating to 
one of the lookers on. To be embraced and kissed on 
both cheeks by this exquisitely lovely girl was surely 
more than an equivalent for any diamonds that 
Colonel Vigne was likely to possess! But Marietta did 
not seem to think so; for she continued to lavish 
caresses upon the triumphant old gentleman, while she 
murmured in his ear: — 

“ Oh, how good you are! There is nobody in the 
world like you! ” 

St. Quintin, who did not happen to be enamoured 
of the young lady’s olive complexion, lustrous brown 
eyes, and other charms, thought to himself, Clever 
little cat! She knows how to be provocative in more 
ways than one. Thank God, we’re off the first thing 
to-morrow morning! ” 

But no such coarse and ignoble suspicions found 
their way into the sorrowful mind of Lionel Mallet; nor 
did it even strike him as ominously significant that a 
present of jewellery should have brought about so com- 
plete a change of mood. 

Either because she was convinced that there was 
nobody like her father in the world, or for other reasons 
which an outraged adorer was unable to surmise. 
Marietta kept her donkey alongside of that bestridden 
by Colonel Vigne when the homeward march was begun, 
and although, after a time, the narrowness of the way 
made it necessary for her to fall back a little, she took 
very good care to leave no space for the advance of a 


42 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


pedestrian. So poor Lionel was fain to plod along 
sullenly in the rear, only opening his lips every now 
and then to execrate the rough and stony path by which 
the descent was being made. But at length, just as his 
spirits had reached their lowest ^bb, the opportunity 
which he had ceased to expect, or hope for, was sud- 
denly granted to him. It was then evening, and the 
wooded ravine through which the little procession was 
making its way was already in twilight. St. Quintin, 
who had marched on ahead, was out of sight, and the 
Colonel was disappearing round a shoulder of the hill- 
side, when Marietta pulled up, dismounted, and set 
to work to tighten her girths. The donkey, after the 
manner of its kind, proceeded to render that operation 
difficult by blowing itself out. Lionel, therefore, could 
do no less than offer assistance. 

Oh, thank you; I am sorry to give you so 
much trouble,” said the girl coldly. “ I should 
not have stopped, only I felt the saddle turning with 
me.” 

It took Lionel a minute or two to put matters 
straight, after which he was once more frigidly thanked, 
and Marietta declared her intention of trotting on. 

You mustn’t think of trotting downhill in the 
dark over these loose stones,” said Lionel decidedly; 

you would come down to a certainty, and cut your- 
self and the donkey all to pieces. Miss Vigne,” he 
added, presently, would you mind telling me what I 
have done? ” 

What you have done?” she repeated, with a not 
too successful assumption of interrogative surprise. 

Yes — or left undone. Because it is quite evident 
that you are angry with me, and when my friends are 
angry with me, I like, at least, to know the reason. 
But perhaps you will say that I presume too far in 
calling you one of my friends.” 

Marietta had not remounted. She was engaged in 
tugging at the saddle, to satisfy herself that it was 
firm, and she had her hack turned towards Lionel, of 


FACTA EST ALEA. 


43 


whose question she took no notice. Presently, however, 
she whisked round, and said, impatiently: — 

A friend, surely, is somel)ody whom one has known 
for a long time, and expects to see or hear of again. 
But you are quite mistaken in supposing that I am 
angry with you. Why should I be? ” 

Lionel observed that that was just what he wanted 
to know, adding that he could not understand why he 
had been so ruthlessly snubbed all day if he had com- 
mitted no offence. 

“ You remind me of the wolf who complained that 
the lamb made the water muddy,” returned the girl, 
with a laugh. As if such an insignificant creature as 
I am could possibly snub a man of your importance! ” 
And then, cutting short the rejoinder upon which 
he had embarked: — 

“ Oh, I know I have been rude and disagreeable,” 
she went on; “I couldn’t help it. I am dreadfully 
disappointed, if you must have the whole truth. I 
thought we should go to London this summer. Now it 
turns out that we are not going, and that nobody cares 
a straw whether we do or not. It is silly to show 
temper, but perhaps you would forgive me if you knew 
how I loathe the sort of life which I seem to be con- 
demned to lead! ” 

There is one person, at all events,” answered 
Lionel, in a low voice, who cares a great deal whether 
you come to London or not, and who will be quite as 
much disappointed as you are if you don’t. But I am 
sure you will; I am sure it can be managed.” 

“In what way?” she asked. “You want to say 
something pleasant; but of course you know in reality 
that my day-dreams have come to nothing. The sim- 
ple truth is that we are too poor; and even if we did 
contrive to scrape together enough money to take us 
to England, we should be despised and neglected be- 
cause of our poverty. Is not that a fact? ” 

It was so unquestionable a fact that Lionel had no 
answer at her service, except a deep sigh. 

4 


44 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Consequently/’ she continued, I mnst either live 
my life out in hotels and pensions, which I should not 
like, or study for the stage, which my father would not 
like, or, as I said before, marry some rich old man, 
which perhaps the rich old man would not like. Will 
you help me to get on this donkey’s hack, please? He 
won’t stand still.” 

Lionel complied with her request. In order to do 
so he had to take her by her ungloved hand, and he 
did not relax his grasp of her slim fingers after she 
was seated in the saddle. 

‘Hs it essential that the man should he old?” he 
whispered, for indeed the fate of most men is apt to he 
decided in a few moments, not in cold blood, and resolu- 
tions of the utmost magnitude are more often formed 
hastily than deliberately. 

Marietta drew her hand away with a jerk. I don’t 
know what you mean,” she faltered, 

I mean,” replied the young man, that I love 
you, and that if you can care enough for me to promise 
to be my wife ” 

Oh, no,” she interrupted, in genuine agitation, it 
is impossible! — ^you cannot he thinking of what you are 
saying! I never had the least idea — how could you sup- 
pose that I had! But perhaps it was natural that you 
should he sorry for me, and — and that you should 
imagine things. Please do not say any more; we 
must hurry on or they will think we are lost.” And 
with a kick of her heel she set her donkey in motion. 

But Lionel, if he had made up his mind precipitately, 
had made it up irrevocably, and Miss Vigne’s docile 
steed was promptly brought to a halt. In matters of 
controversy or dispute it is an immense advantage to 
know your own mind, and he who is thus fortified is 
likely to come oft victorious. Marietta, it may be, did 
not know hers; there is little reason to doubt the sin- 
cerity of her declaration that she had not until that 
moment contemplated the possibility of her ever be- 
coming the future Viscountess Middlewood. Did she 


FACTA EST ALEA. 


45 


love the handsome wooer who was so ardently urging 
social greatness upon her? As to that also her mind 
may have been in a condition of some uncertainty; yet 
she ended by accepting him, and the thought that she 
was to be his wife undoubtedly made her very happy. 
What cast a momentary shadow over the brilliancy of 
her prospects was his intimation that it would be in- 
cumbent upon him to obtain his father^s consent to 
their union. 

But I thought you were independent of your 
father/^ she exclaimed in dismay. Of course he will 
never consent! — you yourself told me that your people 
would insist upon your making a great marriage. If 
we must obey Lord Middlewood^s orders ’’ 

‘^We shall not have to do that; but it is just be- 
cause I am independent of him However, it is 

rather difficult to explain, and it doesn’t really signify. 
I only meant that our engagement had better not be 
announced immediately. For that matter I must first 
of all get Colonel Vigne’s consent.” 

It was scarcely to be anticipated that difficulties 
would be raised by Colonel Vigne; yet when, at a 
later hour of the evening, he requested a few minutes’ 
private conversation with his prospective father-in-law, 
and stated what his hopes and intentions were, he was 
met with no sort of enthusiasm. 

You have taken me entirely by surprise, Mr. Mal- 
let,” the Colonel said, with a troubled look. One 
hardly knows what answer to make upon the spur of 
the moment, except, indeed, to tell you what I should 
think you must see for yourself, that no definite answer 
can be made. You are very young, and my daughter 
is still younger; it stands to reason that you cannot 
really know anything about one another after so short 
an acquaintance. If you both remain of the same mind 

at the end of a year, let us say, and if But, upon 

my word, I don’t see much use in making further stipu- 
lations, because, to speak plainly, I am quite sure that 
you will not be of the same mind a year hence.” 


46 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Which of us do you expect to change? the young 
man inquired. 

Well — both, I suppose. But I was thinking more 
especially of you.” 

“ Then you will find that you are mistaken. I really 
am neither a fool nor a scoundrel; though I admit that, 
so far as your knowledge of me goes, that remains to 
be proved. May I hear the other stipulations?” 

Oh, certainly; you are entitled to hear them.’ 

Colonel Vigne sighed and laid down his cigar, which 
he had allowed to go out. It was in the little smoking- 
room of the hotel, which was partially lighted by an 
evil-smelling oil lamp, that this interview was being 
held, and perhaps he found the atmosphere oppressive; 
for he walked to the window, threw it open, and drew 
in several long breaths of the cool night air before he 
resumed: I am sure you must be amazed, Mr. Mallet, 

that I do not receive you with open arms. You are 
rich, I believe; you are well-born; you are, in short, 
everything that is desirable; and yet a poor old half- 
pay officer in the Austrian service ventures to impose 
conditions upon you before he will sanction your be- 
trothal to his daughter! Nevertheless, if you will think 
of it, that is not, after all, so utterly incomprehensible. 
AVhat do I wish for? Naturally enough, that my only 
child should be happy. And as her happiness could not 
be secured by a marriage of which your family disap- 
proved, I must make the approval of your family a sine 
qua non’’ 

Lionel nodded. I am going to write to my father 
at once,” he answered, and I shall see him as soon as 
possible. Of course I wish to have his consent, and 
I told Marietta that I was all the more anxious because 
it isn’t, in the ordinary sense, indispensable. He has 
been awfully good to me, and I don’t like to remind 
him more than I can help that he has no real power 
over me.” 

“In this instance,” observed the Colonel, smiling, 
“ he will have just as much power as I choose to give 


FACTA EST ALEA. 


47 


him. For I, you see, have absolute authority over" my 
daughter, who is legally an infant, and I will not permit 
her to marry Lord Middlewood^s son against Lord Mid- 
dlewood’s will. In other words, my dear young friend, 
it is most unlikely that this marriage will ever take 
place. I might say more; there are many other things 

which might be said; but ” 

He stopped short; for Marietta had appeared at 
the open window, and had evidently heard his last 
words. 

“ Why,” she asked, “ should not our marriage take 
place, if we are both resolved that it shall? Do not 
our lives belong to us? ” 

‘^Ah, my child,” sighed the old man, ^‘1 fear that 
you are laying up sorrow for yourself! ” 

But she did not heed him. She was looking over 
his head at Lionel, who promptly advanced and took 
her hand. They made a splendid couple in respect of 
physical beauty, and perhaps some of the beauty of the 
soul was likewise discernible in their shining eyes; for 
it is certain at that moment they were very deeply in 
love with one another. 

Is it quite impossible,” Marietta resumed, after a 
short pause, “ for us to go to London this summer? ” 
^^You think they will find you irresistible?” her 
father groaned, reading her thought. ^^Ah, poverina! 
how little you know! ” 

But it was not impossible — not actually impossible 
— for them to undertake that journey. He had a small 
emergency-fund of uninvested capital (for he was a 
careful old fellow) at his bankers’ which could be made 
available for the purpose that she mentioned, and some- 
thing in the expression of her face, which reminded him 
of her dead mother’s, caused him to feel on a sudden 
that it might be better for her to see with her own 
eyes and hear with her own ears what no young girl 
can be expected to believe upon mere hearsay evidence. 
Suffer, he was afraid, she must; but she would per- 
haps suffer less and for a shorter time if she were on the 


48 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


spot than if news of what would seem to her to he 
treachery should reach her from afar. 

So, for reasons which she did not at all comprehend. 
Marietta obtained the longed-for concession, and of the 
three people who spent the next half-hour together two 
looked forward to the future with jubilant confidence. 
As for the third, he said little, and wished with all his 
heart that he had some good and experienced woman 
at his elbow to advise him. In the absence of such a 
counsellor, he listened to the dictates of common hu- 
manity and allowed his daughter an extra ten minutes 
after his departure to take leave of the man to whom 
he expressly warned her that she must not regard her- 
self as betrothed. 

It was a good deal more than ten minutes later that 
Lionel, running up stairs two steps at a time, encoun- 
tered St. Quintin, who said, with visible anxiety: 

“ I was just going to look for you. What on earth 
have you been doing all this time? 

“ Talking to the Vignes,” answered Lionel coolly. 

By the way, old chap, I may as well tell you that I 
am engaged to Miss Vigne.’’ 


CHAPTER VI. 

THE FAMILY COUNCIL. 

^^It is preposterous and disastrous and everything 
else that you may please to call it,’’ said Lord Middle- 
wood. All the same, I don’t see what a helpless elder- 
ly individual like myself can do but shrug his shoulders 
and submit.” 

My dear Middlewood,” remonstrated his mother, 
^^you are always so supine! A man in your position 
has no right to be supine. If you had listened to me. 


THE FAMILY COUNCIL. 


49 


instead of shrugging your shoulders, and submitting, 
years ago, you might have been Prime Minister to-day. 
Anyhow, you might have been a much more important 
personage than you are. But at least you are LioneFs 
father.” 

Oh, he is kind enough to acknowledge the relation- 
ship and some of its corollaries — if that advances mat- 
ters.” 

It ought to retard them! — it ought to squash them! 
Bless me! is the boy to he allowed to marry a half- 
bred Italian girl from nobody knows where without a 
finger being raised to save him? Mind you, I am only 
speaking as a worldly woman would speak, and because 
nothing hut worldly considerations, I suppose, are likely 
to have any weight with you: Otherwise I should point 
out that this young woman, who has been educated 
in a convent, it seems, must be a Papist, in addition to 
the rest of her impossibilities.” 

“By Jove!” muttered Lord Middlewood, “I never 
thought of that. Thank you: it is a point.” 

Pie had driven over to Chelton, Lady Maria Hal- 
sted’s charming old house, to impart to her the very 
unwelcome news which had reached him by post that 
morning — not so much in the hope that she would be 
able to render him any assistance as because he had 
felt it almost essential to confide to somebody, no mat- 
ter whom, what a horrid fix he was in. Chelton, a 
commodious mansion, built of grey stone and cov- 
ered on its southern side by creepers, was a far 
more beautiful and habitable, if far less pretentious, 
place than Middlewood. Situated in a sheltered and 
fertile basin of the hills adjoining the Peak district, 
it looked down upon a lake of respectable area and 
was surrounded by gardens which at that season of 
the year were brilliant with daffodils, hyacinths and 
tulips. 

“ You always manage to be about a month in ad- 
vance of us, mother,” remarked Lord Middlewood, gaz- 
ing absently out of the mullioned library window beside 


60 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


which he was seated. Where do you get your 
bulbs? ” 

Oh, bother the bulbs! ” returned the old lady im- 
patiently. ‘^ITl look out the man’s address for you 
presently, if you want it; hut I don’t believe your 
gardener will allow you to interfere. What is more 
to the purpose is whether your son will allow you to 
interfere. Just let me see his letter.” 

I forgot to bring it with me,” Lord Middlewood 
answered; but he says exactly what I told you.” 

That he has offered marriage to a chance acquaint- 
ance whom he picked up at a wayside inn, and that he 
can give you no information about her, except that she 
is pretty, that she has a fine voice, and that her father 
is an Englishman who, for reasons best known to him- 
self, has spent his life in a foreign army. Really, Mid- 
dlewood! ” 

Really what ? ” 

Really I can’t understand your wrinkling up your 
forehead in that distressed way. Lionel, you say, asks 
your permission. Very well; of course he won’t get it. 
Isn’t that sufficient? ” 

My dear mother when the Parliament of these 
realms has passed a hill, it is submitted to the Sovereign 
in order that it may become law. What do you suppose 
would happen if the signature of the Sovereign were to 
be withheld? ” 

I’m sure I don’t know,” answered Lady Maria. 

Well, I’m afraid I do. All power and all authority 
in this world, you will find, rests ultimately upon the 
possession of the wherewithal to keep things going. 
Ninety-nine fathers out of a hundred can threaten to 
cut their sons off with a shilling; I can’t employ that 
threat, for the very good reason that my son doesn’t 
draw a shilling out of my pocket. Consequently, if I 
were so foolish as to threaten him, the chances are that 
he would, metaphorically speaking, raise his thumb to 
his nose, and that I should have to look the other 
way.” 


THE FAMILY COUNCIL. 


51 


would never be so vulgar and so undutiful! 
Besides, I trust that he is not entirely devoid of religious 
principle. As for this scrape, I foresaw that something 
of the sort was very likely to occur, and I warned the 
bear-leader that he would get himself into trouble if 
he didn’t keep a sharp look-out. By the way, what 
has the bear-leader to say for himself? ” 

St. Quintin ? Oh, he writes in the deepest con- 
sternation, poor young man, and assures me that he 
did his best. I have no doubt he did. Bad, of neces- 
sity, was his best, and bad, I greatly fear, will be mine. 
Frankly now, mother, what step would you take, if 
you were in my place? ” 

Lady Maria pursed up her lips and gave her head 
a little shake. It was not often that her son did her the 
honour to consult her, and she rather liked being con- 
sulted. 

If I am to imagine myself in your place,” she re- 
plied, I must begin by imagining myself what, as you 
know, I am not — that is to say, a woman of worldly 
mind.” 

I should think that by applying the whip and spur 
vigorously to your imagination you might accomplish 
that. What would you do if you were a woman of 
worldly mind?” 

“ Well,” answered the old lady, “ I suppose I should 
endeavour to find a substitute — or substitutes. And 
I should temporise. Naturally Lionel will spend this 
season in London, where he will meet quite a large 
number of people whom he has never seen before. If 
you shrink from direct prohibition — and, upon second 
thoughts, I believe you are right there — surely you 
may bargain for delay. No engagement until next 
August; that is what I should say if I were in your 
place, and if I held the opinions that you hold.” 

You are so near holding them,” observed Lord 
Middlewood, with a faint smile, ‘‘that it doesn’t seem 
to make much practical difference. Well, one can but 
try. What with the religious question and what with 


52 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


the Machiavellian policy that you suggest, one may 
even succeed — who knows? Anyhow, it appears that 
the young lady’s father does me the honour to declare 
his determination to he guided by my wishes.” 

That, of course, only shows that he knows what 
he is about,” said Lady Maria. His daughter’s posi- 
tion Avould be rather uncomfortable if the marriage 
were to take place without the countenance of Lionel’s 
family, and he would he a greater goose than he prob- 
ably is if he did not attempt to win us over to his 
side. By the way, have you said anything about this 
to Betty? ” 

“ I have not,” answered Lord Middlewood rather 
hastily; I see no necessity for telling children about 
such matters. May I hope that you will exercise the 
same — er — prudent reticence? ” 

I shall avoid the subject, since you wish me to 
do so,” said Lady Maria; “ but really you ought to be 
ashamed of yourself! What business has a mere chit 
of a girl to put in her word? And what value can her 
views about her brother’s marriage have, one way or 
the other?” 

Hone whatever. All the same, she has a knack 
of giving effect to her views, which, in this instance, 
are not unlikely to be romantic. And that is why 
you are just as much in awe of her as I am, my dear 
mother.” 

I ! — ^in awe of Betty! ” cried Lady Maria. What 
dreadful nonsense you sometimes talk, Middlewood! 
The child has been spoilt, I grant you; but certainly 
never by me.” 

^^Ah! — well, we’ll keep it dark for the present, at 
any rate,” said Lord Middlewood drily. Meanwhile, 
I am invited to take Betty over to Ludworth as soon as 
Lionel arrives, and that is the sort of invitation which 
can’t very well be declined.” 

She could come to me while you were there.” • 

She could; but I doubt whether she would. After 
all, the point is not of much importance in the actual 


THE FAMILY COUNCIL. 


63 

stage of affairs. What we must endeavour to secure is 
breathing time — which we probably shall secure.” 

It was quite probable that they would. Lionel, who, 
following closely upon the heels of his letter, reached 
his own house a few days later, was prepared to make 
any reasonable concession. 

“ I think the governor has behaved very well, you 
know,” he said to the friend who had accompanied 
him. He doesn’t like it, and he couldn’t be expected 
to like it; but he keeps his temper and admits that he 
will have to give in, if I am in earnest. It only remains 
to convince him that I am in earnest.” 

“ I must say that I wish you weren’t! ” sighed St. 
Quintin. 

St. Quintin had said that several times already. He 
had also done what in him lay tc convince Lionel that 
a man could not really be in earnest about a resolution 
so abruptly formed. But when it was pointed out to 
him that an honourable man who has made an offer 
of marriage must abide by his word or cease to be 
honourable, what could he do but observe a sorrowful 
silence? Lionel, as he knew, was both honourable and 
obstinate — besides being in love and a free agent: escape 
seemed well-nigh impossible. There was, to be sure, 
just a chance that Colonel Vigne’s pride might prove 
genuine and that he would withdraw before Lord Mid- 
dlewood’s opposition; but it was not much of a chance. 
How could it be? St. Quintin looked out of the win- 
dow at the terraces and gardens, the deer-park beyond, 
and the broad, distant acres which formed a part of the 
fortunate owner of Ludworth’s inheritance, and said 
to himself that in all conscience there could be no 
such chance. 

It’s a jolly old place, isn’t it? ” said Lionel. 

It was as delightful a residence as any well-to-do 
country gentleman could wish to possess. The red- 
brick house, constructed in the early years of the seven- 
teenth century, had been added to by successive occu- 
pants without any marked or distressing departure from 


54 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


the original design, and as it had never, through all its 
vicissitudes, been suffered to fall out of repair, it was 
now an almost perfect specimen of its class of edifice. 
During Lionel Mallet^s long minority the establishment 
had been carefully maintained and the furniture re- 
newed, when necessary; so that Ludworth was ready 
at all points to receive its destined mistress. 

^‘Yes, iffs a jolly old place,^^ agreed St, Quintin. 

One can^t help wondering,^^ he was fain to add, what 
the county will say if you bring Miss Marietta Vigne 
to preside over it.” 

I don’t know that I particularly care what Cheshire 
may say,” returned Lionel, with a touch of arrogance; 
“ but if I did care, I should feel quite easy upon the sub- 
ject. Marietta is pretty sure of being admired and liked 
anywhere.” 

A young man who neither liked nor greatly admired 
Miss Vigne could but remain eloquently mute. “ Your 
father and Miss Mallet are to arrive to-morrow, aren’t 
they?” he asked presently. 

Lionel nodded. Yes; and I hope they will stay 
some time. We always used to spend the spring months 
here before I came of age; but now I am expected to 
give a formal invitation, and there’s no certainty about 
its being accepted.” 

But Miss Betty, when she arrived that afternoon, 
announced that she had come to pay her brother a pro- 
longed visit. She had brought most of her belongings, 
including a hack and a couple of wire-haired terriers 
with her, she said, and she did hope that nobody had 
been disturbing the badgers’ earths, because she par- 
ticularly wanted to find out whether the dogs were 
worth anything or not. 

^^All right, Betty,” answered her brother; we’ll 
look up the badgers to-morrow. If your terriers get 
killed don’t blame me, that’s all. No dog of mine will 
ever be allowed to play that game, I can tell you; but 
I don’t presume to offer advice to such a determined 
person as you are.” 


THE FAMILY COUNCIL. 


55 


Advice/^ remarked Betty coolly, “is one of those 
things which it is more blessed to give than to receive. 
From what I hear you are going to receive some, and I 
hope you’ll like it.” 

This speech, which caused Lord Middlewood to raise 
his eyebrows, brought a slight flush to Lionel’s cheeks; 
but Betty at once changed the subject, and no further 
allusion was made to circumstances about which every- 
body present was thinking. Not until after dinner was 
Lionel requested to accompany his father to the smok- 
ing-room, whither St. Quintin discreetly refrained from 
following the pair. 

Lord Middlewood lighted a cigar and opened fire 
with: 

“ I should like to have my position defined, please. 
Am I to understand that I have the power to forbid this 
engagement of yours? ” 

Lionel was afraid he could not go quite so far as to 
say that. Certainly he wished very much to have his 
father’s sanction and approval; but, if these were un- 
happily to be refused to him, he would still feel bound 
by his pledged word. On the other hand. Colonel 
Yigne had made it a distinct condition that the assent 
of the Mallet family should be secured. 

“ H’m! — meaning what he said? ” Lord Middlewood 
inquired. 

“ I think he is an honest man and a gentleman,” 
answered Lionel simply. 

“ Well, let us give him the benefit of the doubt, if 
there is a doubt. And there generally is, you know; 
because, after all, gentlemen form a small minority 
and honest men, perhaps, an even smaller one. Taking 
him at his word, and assuming him to be sincere, I 
don’t think he or you or Miss Vigne can fairly com- 
plain if I ask for a little extension of time.” 

“ Of course not,” Lionel agreed readily. “ Naturally, 
you must see her before you can speak positively, and 
I hope you will see her soon; for they have promised 
to come to London.” 


5G 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE, 


Really? Then suppose I were to name the 1st of 
August as the date upon which I shall be prepared 
to answer ^ Yes or no? ’ ” 

Couldn’t you make it the 1st of July? The fact 
is that they are not well off, and I know they can’t 
easily afford a long stay in London.” 

So be it/’ answered Lord Middlewood, after a 
moment of reflection. “ But I don’t undertake to make 
a favourable reply upon the first of any month, mind. 
Many objections might be urged against this proposed 
match; but, as you are not a fool, you cannot require 
me to point them out to you, and I fully understand 
that I can only dictate terms to you on sufferance. One 
thing, however, I should like to say — not as your father, 
but simply as a friend. You are not, and you cannot at 
present be, in any way bound; when you talk about 
your pledged word, you forget that the pledge has not 
been accepted. Colonel Vigne, you tell me, makes his 
consent to the engagement conditional; therefore no 
actual engagement exists.” 

can’t take that view,” said Lionel. Marietta 
is not bound; but I consider that I am.” 

Lord Middlewood smiled and did not insist. He 
was a man of experience and discrimination; he had 
obtained as much as he could reasonably hope to obtain, 
and he judged it advisable to leave well alone. While 
he finished his cigar, he asked a few not unsympathetic 
questions respecting Miss Vigne’s personal appearance, 
and listened indulgently to the panegyric upon which 
his son was tempted to embark. He had the air — and 
he wished to have the air — of not taking matters more 
seriously than courtesy required. 

Meanwhile, Betty and St. Quintin, who had been 
left to entertain one another in the drawing-room, were 
keeping up an animated conversation. 

Know all about it? — rather! ” the young lady was 
saying. “ Granny has no secrets from me. For several 
reasons I suspected that something was up; so I drove 
over to Chelton at once and put her through her cate- 


THE FAMILY COUNCIL. 


57 


chism. She said I mustn’t betray her to papa/ be- 
cause she had promised not to tell me, hut that per- 
haps I ought to know. Naturally I agreed with her 
that I ought to know; I am not so sure that I agree 
with her and you in deploring what has happened. It 
all depends, you see, upon what this Miss Vigne may 
he like. For my own part, I fancy that I might prefer 
her to some smart London girl, who would give herself 
airs and very likely try to patronise me. Clear your 
mind of prejudice now; and let us hear, without fear or 
favour, what you think of her.” 

St. Quintin gave an impartial description of Mari- 
etta, which was necessarily a favourable one, since he 
really knew of nothing to her disadvantage. He did 
not think that either by birth or (so far as he could 
judge) by character she was particularly well fitted to 
become Lionel’s wife; but that, as his hearer reminded 
him, was a mere question of personal opinion. 

From what you tell me,” she remarked, “ I am 
disposed to think that I shall take Lionel’s side. What 
is the use of being the sort of person that he is if you 
can’t consult your own inclinations? Of course it 
wouldn’t do for him to marry a barmaid; hut your 
Marietta sounds quite decent, and it is a point in her 
favour that she is pretty sure not to be bumptious. 
Yes; I think I shall back her up.” 

Perhaps,” observed St. Quintin mildly, “ you won’t 
be consulted.” 

Betty had ensconced herself in a low easy chair 
and was nursing her knee, round which her well-shaped, 
but slightly sunburnt, hands were clasped. Oh, you 
think I stand in need of being snubbed, do you?” said 
she. 

St. Quintin protested that he had never said that. 

You think so, though. Well, you may snub me 
every now and then, if you like; I sha’n’t mind. After 
all, it makes a change, and, as I remember telling you 
before you went away, I have an idea that we shall he 
friends, you and I. As for my being consulted by papa 


58 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


and granny, yon may depend upon it that I shall. I 
donH mean that they will ask me in so many words 
to decide for them; but I can always make them decide 
as I wish.” 

If you have all that power,” returned St. Quintin, 
I hope you will use it wisely, and I can’t think it 

would be in any way wise ” 

But the entrance of Lord Middlewood and Lionel 
compelled him to leave his sentence unfinished. 


CHAPTER yil. 

THE AKRIVAL OF THE EXILES. 

Marietta, after the two young Englishmen had left 
Ponte a Serraglio, felt assured of one thing, amongst 
many which seemed to he uncertain; she could not 
and did not doubt that Lionel loved her. And she on 
her side loved him — not, perhaps, with that intense 
and passionate devotion of which she had sometimes 
suspected that her nature was capable, yet quite enough 
for all practicable purposes. But this brace of convic- 
tions, though to some extent comforting, did not avail 
to keep her spirits from sinking, as one long, solitary 
day followed another, and the difficulties which the 
future held in reserve became more and more apparent 
to her. It is always a doleful and discouraging experi- 
ence to be left behind; the Baths of Lucca had little to 
offer in the shape of company or amusements, whereas 
London, by all accounts, would provide a young man 
of fortune with as great a variety of both as he could 
desire, and an even greater variety than was likely to be 
good for him. The absent, alas! can never be wholly 
free from the fear of being forgotten. She received 
letters to be sure, and the sentiments expressed therein 


THE ARRIVAL OP THE EXILES. 59 

gave no ground for complaint; but Lionel had not yet 
been put to the test; his ordeal was still to come, and 
she would not be upon the spot at a time when even her 
slight and theoretical knowledge of the world and 
human nature warned her that her presence might be 
needed. 

Patience, my child, patience!’’ her father said, 
with a melancholy smile. “ I have promised to take 
you to England, and I will keep my word. But we 
must not appear to be too eager. Believe me, that would 
be an error. It is for Mr. Mallet to beckon to us, not 
for us to pursue him.” 

And supposing that Mr. Mallet should omit to 
beckon? Marietta was ashamed to suggest what she 
knew that her father regarded as by no means improb- 
able; and the consequence was that two people who 
had until lately had the prospect of living very hap- 
pily together were now sad and ill at ease in one an- 
other’s society. The Colonel, who had only his child 
to live for, and who, on returning from active service, 
had rather absurdly promised himself two or three years 
of her undivided affection, was a little sore at her readi- 
ness to quit him upon such very brief provocation, added 
to which he had no desire to fly at high game. Mari- 
etta, for her part, could not help resenting her father’s 
apparent disinclination to further her advancement in 
life. If he was not consciously selfish, he was at least 
somewhat oblivious of a parent’s first duties, she thought. 
He might have understood that only a short period of 
sunshine is granted to girls in which to make their 
hay, and that they have as good a right to be hay- 
makers as anybody else. 

However, she forgave him when at length he an- 
nounced to her that she had better begin packing up 
her trunks in preparation for their northward journey. 

Mr. Mallet has taken rooms for us in London,” 
he said. Perhaps you know that? ” 

She shook her head. “ I have not heard for more 
than a week,” she answered. In his last letter he 
5 


60 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


said that he hoped we should meet soon, hut that 
everything depended upon you.^^ 

Ah, well, I wrote to him just about a week ago, and 
his reply has come by telegram. Perhaps I ought to have 
mentioned that I heard some time since from his father. 
Lord Middlewood.^^ 

You have heard from Lord Middlewood! ” cried 
the girl, eagerly. But that is most important! What 
sort of a letter was it? ” 

It was the letter of a gentleman, I should say. 
Civil; hut not, of course, particularly enthusiastic. He 
asked a number of questions which I am not sure that 
he was quite entitled to ask, considering that you are 
not engaged to Mr. Mallet, and he candidly confessed 
that he could have wished for a rather more aristocratic 
alliance. For the rest, it had been agreed upon between 
him and his son that there should be no definite be- 
trothal before the close of the London season — and he 
hoped I should see the reasonableness of that. So I 
replied that I did, and I answered some of his ques- 
tions, and I begged him to believe (but I am sure he 
won’t) that I differed from him in not coveting aristo- 
cratic alliances.” 

“ I think it was rather a pity to say that,” observed 
Marietta, thoughtfully. “We may not be great people; 
but our blood, after all, is as good as his, I dare say. 
If you had told him that the Magliacci ” 

“ The Magliacci,” interrupted the Colonel, rather 
sharply, “ don’t count. Our name is Vigne.” He added, 
in a gentler tone, “ Marietta, mia, do not be deceived. 
It is worth no woman’s while to marry a man whom 
she does not love, for the sake of becoming great or 
rich; but it is worth her while — ^yes, I believe it is 
worth her while — to marry a man whom she does love, 
even if he does not belong to her own class. Only 
then she must be prepared for some troubles and vexa- 
tions.” 

Marietta smiled. Troubles and vexations might 
possibly be in store for her; but at any rate the vexa- 


THE ARRIVAL OF THE EXILES. 61 

tion of eating her heart out in that remote Italian 
watering-place was at an end, and Lord Middlewood’s 
letter did not sound to her unpromising. She was going 
to London; that was the main point — the sole essential 
point, indeed. 

The journey, that weary uninteresting journey across 
France which many of us know only too well — was a 
pure delight to her; the crowded streets, the glittering 
shop-fronts and the smart equipages of Paris made her 
mouth water, and her heart beat with a premonition of 
what she was about to conquer; if the sight of Dover 
Castle did not rouse her to any especially high pitch 
of patriotic exultation, it brought home to her the glad 
certainty that Lionel and London were now within two 
hour’s reach. Perhaps London and Lionel would have 
been a more accurate method of expressing what she 
longed for; yet the latter would have been an exact- 
ing lover, indeed, if he had been dissatisfied with the 
smile of recognition which she accorded to him when 
the train drew up at the Charing-cross platform. The 
simple truth is that she was very glad indeed to see 
him. 

So you have come to meet us,” she said, as he 
opened the door of the railway-carriage and helped her 
to descend. 

“Did you suppose that I shouldn’t come?” he re- 
turned. 

She had not been absolutely certain about it. Dur- 
ing the previous quarter of an hour vague forebodings 
and misgivings had taken possession of her; it was, 
after all, conceivable — eminently probable. Lord Mid- 
dlewood and her father would have said — that Lionel, 
released from the spell which had bewitched him in 
distant Tuscany, might wish to be off his half-con- 
cluded bargain. Here, however, he was to answer for 
his fidelity by glances which there was no misinterpret- 
ing, and very nice he looked in his long frock-coat, and 
his carefully brushed tall hat. Marietta was pleased 
with him, proud of him, even a trifle shy of him, under 


62 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


that altered guise. But in everything save attire he was 
unchanged; it was his prompt and successful endeavour 
to satisfy her of that. 

I have taken rooms for you in Seymour-street/^ 
he told her father, rather apologetically. ‘^It isn^t a very 
fashionable quarter; hut 

My dear sir,” interrupted Colonel Vigne, I 
should never have forgiven you if you had taken rooms 
for us in a very fashionable quarter. My knowledge 
of London is quite out of date; hut I remember that 
Seymour-street used to he considered highly respect- 
able, and I trust that it is not still too expensive for 
paupers like us. I had prepared myself for Blooms- 
bury.” 

He was, as a matter of fact, prepared to spend a 
certain sum (not arising out of income) which would 
have justified a temporary sojourn upon the outskirts 
of favoured districts; hut of course he did not want 
to he more extravagant than he could help; so that 
he was proportionately gratified and surprised when, 
on reaching the excellent lodgings which Lionel had 
secured for him and his (laughter, he learned how 
trifling would he the rent demanded for them. The 
landlady, had she been so minded, could have given 
him reasons for her moderation; hut she was a dis- 
creet woman. It had, indeed, been made worth her 
while to he discreet. 

‘‘1 suppose it is all right,” the old gentleman re- 
marked to his daughter, after their capable friend had 
left them, promising to look in again on the following 
morning; ‘^but I had no idea that it was possible to 
live so inexpensively in London. The thing couldn’t 
be done in Vienna; I am quite sure of that.” 

Marietta had no doubt that it was all right. Sus- 
picions which had not suggested themselves to the in- 
genious mind of her father (for Colonel Vigne would 
never, except upon very strong evidence, have sus- 
pected a friend of his of insulting him by paying his 
bills) she may have had; but they did not trouble her. 


THE ARRIVAL OF THE EXILES. 


63 


It seemed to her the most simple thing in the world 
that Lionel Mallet, who was rich, should come to the 
aid of one who was poor and whom he loved. And he 
did love her; he had not changed; she had nothing 
to fear from the sirens of fashionable London. Of that 
much he had contrived to convince her between Char- 
ing-cross and Seymour-street: she was now certain 
that this was the very last time she would ever have 
to take up her abode in lodgings. 

She had a moment of annoyance the next day, when 
her father expressed some reluctance to dine with Mr. 
Mallet at the Berkeley restaurant and go on to the 
Opera afterwards. 

This is not quite what I bargained for,’^ the per- 
plexed Colonel said; ^Hhis looks rather too much like 
taking things for granted. I thought Lord Middle- 
wood would have been here.” 

Well, he is coming,” answered Marietta im- 
patiently. 

So I understand; but neither you nor young Mal- 
let ought to be committed until he comes — ^if then. I 
don’t like the idea of his escorting you to the Opera.” 

Where not a single creature will know us! ” 

A good many creatures will know him. I am much 
obliged to him for his politeness; but I think for the 
present we had better decline all such invitations.” 

Marietta sank down upon a sofa, spreading out her 
hands with a gesture of despair. Father,” she ex- 
claimed piteously, “ why are you so cruel to me! Why 
are you determined to do everything you can to spoil 
my life? ” 

Her eyes became suffused with tears; the corners 
of her mouth drooped. What could a fond parent do 
but plead for pardon and protest that he had no dearer 
wish than to see her happy? 

So the trio dined at Lionel’s expense, notwithstand- 
ing a futile attempt on Colonel Vigne’s part to pay 
his share of the bill, and when they took their places 
in the stalls at Covent Garden later, not a few opera- 


64 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


glasses were directed at the lovely girl in the ill-fitting 
gown whom nobody could identify. Italian opera had 
been revived in London that season, after a protracted 
period of neglect; it had once more, as in years long 
past and forgotten, become the right thing to frequent 
the big Covent Garden theatre, and the auditorium 
was as brilliant as jewels and gay clothing could 
make it. 

But Marietta, for the moment, took no heed of her 
fellow-spectators. Her eyes were riveted upon the stage, 
which the risen curtain had just revealed, and very soon 
her ears were astonished and enchanted by the first 
clear, soaring notes of the best-trained soprano voice 
in the world. Only once before — when her father had 
taken her to La Scala at Milan — had she been within 
the walls of an opera-house; never before had she 
heard anything at all resembling the performance to 
which she was now privileged to listen, and the effect 
of it was to move her to tears of mingled enthusiasm 
and despair. For she knew enough about music and 
enough about singing to realise the extravagance of cer- 
tain personal aspirations in which she had indulged at 
odd times. More than once, during the progress of the 
first act, her neighbour addressed her, without eliciting 
any reply. She had clean forgotten him; she had for- 
gotten everything and everybody, except that glorious, 
triumphant prima donna, who seemed to her to he the 
happiest of created beings, and in whose shoes she would 
willingly have given twenty years of life to stand. How- 
ever, as this absorption made her look exceedingly beau- 
tiful, Lionel smiled and pardoned it. When the cur- 
tain had fallen amidst prolonged plaudits, to which she 
contributed her share, he said: 

You are not disappointed so far, then? 

^‘Disappointed!^’ she exclaimed — “who could be? 
Oh, if one had a voice like that! ” 

“ Oh, it’s a fine voice, of course. As for me, I make 
so bold as to prefer yours,” said Lionel audaciously. 
And as the look of disdainful incredulity which she 


THE ARRIVAL OP THE EXILES. 


65 


turned upon him seemed to imply that that compliment 
was rather more than she could swallow, he made haste 
to add: Not that I have any pretension to be a judge. 
By the way, I should like, if you don^t mind, to intro- 
duce you and Colonel Vigne to my cousin Lady Gos- 
port, who is sitting just over there and who does pre- 
tend to be something of a judge.” 

The occasion would have been somewhat ill-chosen 
for an introduction of that nature if Lady Gosport had 
not been previously prepared for it; hut it is scarcely 
necessary to say that Lionel had prepared her. She 
was a tall, lean woman, with a large nose, dull, promi- 
nent gray eyes, a wealthy, elderly husband and no chil- 
dren. Having a strong desire to shine in some capacity, 
and being really rather fond of music, she had of late 
years attained to a certain measure of celebrity by 
means of giving excellent private concerts. She had, 
therefore, no objection to shaking hands with a young per- 
son who, by Lionel’s account, was likely to prove useful. 
Her method of shaking hands, which seemed to imitate 
the front action of a high-stepping charger, struck the 
uninitiated Marietta as peculiar; but no faijlt could be 
found with the startled admiration of her gaze. It 
was the first of many such involuntary acts of homage 
which Miss Vigne was destined to receive, and she found 
it highly acceptable. 

Lady Gosport had not much to say; various cor- 
rectly attired gentlemen were waiting to speak to her, 
and after she had made some indistinct allusion to a 
forthcoming party at her house — “ Quite informal; 
only amateurs this time, so you need not be afraid of 
joining them” — she had the air of dismissing Colonel 
Vigne and his daughter, who returned to their stalls. 
But she plucked at Lionel’s sleeve to detain him, and 
ejaculated: 

^‘What a perfectly splendid creature! Does her 
voice match her face?” 

Well, almost,” answered Lionel. 

Good gracious! you will have to wear a coat of 


66 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


mail over your heart. The father looks a spruce, tidy 
sort of old thing. A gentleman? 

Of course.” 

I don’t see why. Didn’t you tell me that you had 
picked him up in some foreign watering-place?” 

‘‘I met them in Italy. But you ought to know 
that I should never have thought of introducing them 
to you unless they had been all right.” 

Oh, I’m not particular; I have to put up with all 
sorts of horrors because they can play or sing. But I 
won’t he responsible for your friends, mind.” 

I thought I heard you inviting them to a party 
just now.” 

Exactly so; I invited them to a party. If that 
will do them any good they’re welcome. But I am not 
going to aid and abet in scandals, and I am not going 
to get myself into a row with Aunt Maria.” 

Lionel was about to protest indignantly against the 
association of Miss Vigne’s name with such a word as 
scandal; but the crash of the orchestra drowned his 
opening words and sent him back to his seat. After all 
he had not done so badly; for whether Lady Gosport 
chose to he rude or polite, she could not now help 
serving as a stepping-stone, and he had an intuition 
that nothing more than a stepping-stone would he re- 
quired. Indeed, Miss Vigne made other fresh acquaint- 
ances before that first evening of her appearance in 
London society was at an end; for during the second 
entr’act several men begged Lionel to present them to 
her. He was not quite so keen about introducing men 
as ladies; still he could hardly refuse, and two of them 
happened to he influential persons, with influential 
wives. Evidently Marietta’s success was assured in ad- 
vance of her having sung a note. 

His brougham was waiting, on the conclusion of the 
performance, to take Colonel and Miss Vigne hack to 
Seymour-street, whither he himself followed them in 
a hansom. Marietta had gone up stairs when he reached 
the house; hut the Colonel had remained in the hall 


THE ARRIVAL OF THE EXILES. 67 

to offer him, as in duty bound, a cigar and something 
to drink. 

‘^We have had a most delightful evening, and we 
are greatly indebted to you,” the old gentleman de- 
clared; but I hope you will not think me very un- 
grateful if I say that I would rather you did not make 
any more engagements for us or with us until after your 
father^s arrival.” 

Do you mean that I am to live in the same town 
with you and see nothing of you?” asked the dismayed 
Lionel. 

No; I only mean that I do not wish to be accused 
afterwards of having taken unfair advantages. Humble 
as I am, I hold to preserving my self-respect, and for 
my daughter’s sake, I must give nobody the right to 
say that I have tried to compromise you. I am sure 
you will understand that. Now, if you will go into the 
drawing-room, you will find Marietta there, and I will 
join you as soon as I have changed my coat.” 

It did not take him long to change his coat: he felt 
that he really ought not to he too dilatory over a pro- 
ceeding which he was, nevertheless, not h^rd-hearted 
enough to omit altogether. But, brief as the time ac- 
corded to the lovers was, it sufficed for the interchange 
of assurances which were satisfactory to both of them. 

“ Only I do wish,” sighed Marietta pensively, after 
certain highly complimentary remarks had been ad- 
dressed to her — ‘^you will think me silly, I dare say; 
but I do wish that I were not so dreadfully shabby! ” 

“ Shabby! ” ejaculated Lionel, in genuine amaze- 
ment. “ But you are splendid! That was the adjective 
that Clara Gosport applied to you, and she couldn’t 
have hit upon a more appropriate one.” 

The girl smiled and shook her head. She could 
not possibly have meant it. She was splendid, if you 
like; her dress must have cost a small fortune.” 

“ Her dress? — oh, very likely it did. But I suspect 
that she would gladly exchange all the dresses in her 
wardrobe for your face.” 


68 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


You say that because you are a man. When I am 
her age nobody will care to look twice at my face. I 
wonder whether even you will! ” 

He made the reply that anybody else would have 
made. 

But perhaps/’ resumed Marietta, I also may be 
wearing diamonds and brocade then.” She added, with 
innocent candour and emphasis, Oh, how glad I am 
that you are a' rich man! ” 


CHAPTER VIII. 

A FACILE TRIUMPH. 

If there was one thing which bored poor Lord Gosport 
more than another — and, for his misfortune, he was 
bored by most things — it was a musical entertainment 
at home. , He himself detested music almost as much 
as he detested poetry, which was saying a good deal, 
and often he wished that his big house in Whitehall 
Gardens were not so big as to admit of the setting apart 
of one reception room for vocal and instrumental pur- 
poses. 

^Hf this confounded concert-hall, or whatever you like 
to call it, that’s the ruin of us,” he remarked despond- 
ently to a crony of his one evening. If we had only 
a couple of drawing-rooms, like other people, Clara 
wouldn’t find professionals and amateurs so ready to 
jump at her invitations, and we should escape this per- 
petual squeaking and squawking.” 

^^Well, you aren’t compelled to listen to it,” ob- 
served his friend. “ With so much space at your com- 
mand, you ought always to be able to withdraw out of 
earshot, I should think.” 

The little sandy-haired man shook his head sadly. 


A FACILE TRIUMPH. 


69 


I’m compelled to be within call, though,” he answered. 

Of course one does make a bolt for the smoking-room 
when one sees that some wretch or other is going to howl 
for the next quarter of an hour.” 

However, he maintained his position in the doorway 
now, notwithstanding the obvious purpose for which a 
tall young lady, with whom he was not acquainted, was 
being conducted by his wife towards the grand piano. 
If Lord Gosport’s ear was uneducated, his eyes were 
appreciative, and he said to himself that it was many 
years since he had beheld such a handsome girl as this. 
So he remained where he was for the pleasure of staring 
at her, and his admiration survived the song with which 
she presently favoured a select assemblage, though he 
thought it a great pity that she should do her best to 
spoil her beauty by opening her mouth so wide. 

I haven’t the most distant idea,” he said, in answer 
to numerous eager queries which were addressed to him 
as soon as her performance came to an end; “ my wife 
is always picking up fresh geniuses from nobody knows 
where. But I shall make so bold as to request the 
honour of an introduction to this one; for she is far 
and away the most beautiful woman in the room. One 
of the best-dressed too, in my humble opinion.” 

The latter compliment would have perhaps been 
more grateful to Marietta Vigne, had she overheard it, 
than the former. The achievements of a first-class 
dressmaker are not to be secured at a few days’ notice; 
yet with energy, personal skill, and the pecuniary aid 
of an indulgent father wonders may be accomplished; 
and it is a fact that the bluish-green gown which she 
had selected fitted her admirably. Hot every dark- 
haired woman can dare to array herself in green: that 
is why the tint had recommended itself to its present 
wearer. For the rest, she was blissfully conscious of 
looking her best. If the admiring throng by which 
she was surrounded could not tell her in so many words 
what they thought about her looks, their expressive 
countenances spoke for them, while there was no reason 


70 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


in the world why she should not he told that she had 
sung divinely. The fat German, who had played her 
accompaniment, had to revert to his own language to 
express his guttural enthusiasm; Lady Gosport went 
near to embracing her; other people had the air of 
longing to go a step further - than Lady Gosport, and 
when the universal entreaty for a second song had been 
granted, the songstress knew that her victory had been 
won. 

It had been won with such ridiculous ease too! That 
was the reflection which was passing through her mind, 
as she stood, with sparkling eyes and slightly flushed 
cheeks, upon that bloodless battle-fleld. She had, to 
be sure, felt an astonishing confldence in herself — a 
confidence engendered by the perusal of romances in 
which the heroine had had some such experience as had 
just fallen to her lot — hut she had also had misgivings, 
now happily allayed. No heroine of romance could 
have scored a triumph more prompt or more absolute; 
London (at least, to her delighted imagination) was 
already on its knees before her; her only regret was that 
Lord Middlewood was not present to recognise the 
futility of rejecting so brilliant a daughter-in-law. 

Even that regret would have been spared her if she 
had had the curiosity to inquire the name of the pallid, 
gray-bearded man in the doorway who, as she guessed, 
was at that moment inquiring her own. Lord Gosport, 
who had informed himself, was now able to reply: 

She’s a Miss Vigne; Lionel brought her here, I’m 
told. Devilish good-looking girl, isn’t she?” 

Oh, my prophetic soul! ” murmured Lord Middle- 
wood; ‘‘I thought as much! Yes; she is, as you say, 
a devilish good-looking girl.” 

^^Why do you look so glum about it?” asked the 
other. Do we owe this very unusual honour to paternal 
anxiety? I didn’t even know that you were in Lon- 
don.” 

I arrived last night,” answered Lord Middlewood, 
and in the course of the afternoon somebody told me 


A FACILE TRIUMPH. 


71 


that Clara had a party. So I ventured to dispense with 
an invitation.” 

But not for the sake of seeing Clara or me, I pre- 
sume. Anything up between Lionel and our fair friend 
at the piano ? ” 

Lord Middlewood did not think it necessary to make 
any reply to his cousin’s flippant question. He had 
caught sight of Lionel, whom he followed and touched 
on the elbow, and who exclaimed, Hullo! ” in accents 
of extreme surprise. 

Why not? ” said the old man. You sent for me, 
didn’t you? ” 

I hoped you would come soon, and I’m very glad 
you have come; but I never should have expected to 
see you at an entertainment of this kind.” 

“ My dear fellow, I am prepared for any sacriflce 
of personal comfort. Besides, I had a sort of present- 
ment of what was in store for me. Nothing, I must 
admit, could be more dramatic.” 

In what way dramatic ? ” 

“ In every way. The young person’s singular beauty, 
the very clever fashion after which you have contrived 
to launch her, the success which everybody can per- 
ceive that she is going to have. It only remains for me 
to beg the favour of an introduction.” 

“ Do you really want to be introduced to her? ” 
asked Lionel, who was sometimes a little puzzled to 
discover what his father was driving at. 

Lord Middlewood answered that he really did; and 
without much delay he was enabled to satisfy himself 
that, whatever Miss Vigne’s origin might be, her man- 
ners were those of a lady. His own manners were per- 
fect. His somewhat old-world courtesy, his gracefully- 
turned compliments and the tact with which he avoided 
any direct allusion to her relations with his son, while 
mentioning that he had heard of their meeting at the 
Baths of Lucca, charmed Marietta, who soon became 
quite at her ease with him. At first she was rather 
shy; but he did not seem to notice her shyness. He was 


72 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


amiable, talkative, friendly even — how could she doubt 
that he also might be added to the list of her captives 
and that his opposition was no longer a thing to be 
dreaded? But all the time his shrewd old eyes, which 
were seldom raised to hers, were reading her like a book, 
his keen ears were listening to every inflection of her 
voice, and before their conversation closed he knew a 
good deal more about her than Lionel did — more, per- 
haps, than she knew about herself. Not for nothing 
had Lord Middle wood devoted many hours of his life 
to the study of his species. 

And if he had little difficulty in arriving at certain 
definite conclusions respecting Marietta, he had still less 
in classifying her father, with whom he presently shook 
hands. Colonel Yigne, indeed, was too obviously sim- 
ple a person to be suspected of concealing duplicity 
beneath a show of straightforwardness. He drew his 
interlocutor aside and plunged into the midst of a deli- 
cate business with an absence of tact and discretion 
which could not fail to tell in his favour. 

I am sure you must take us for adventurers. Lord 
Middlewood; but the truth is that we are nothing of 
the sort. We are only a couple of bourgeois, with whom 
you cannot possibly wish to be connected by marriage. 
I neither expected nor desired your son and my daughter 
to fall in love with one another; but the thing has 
happened, and now the question is, what is to be done? 
I told him that I would not give my consent unless 
you gave yours. More than that I could hardly say; 
for my daughter’s happiness, after all, is the most im- 
portant consideration, so far as I am concerned.” 

“ Quite so,” agreed Lord Middlewood, smiling. 
‘^Your conduct throughout, my dear sir, has been, if 
I may be permitted to say so, absolutely correct. For 
my own part I have nothing to add to what I wrote 
to you, except that, after having seen your daughter, 
I can fully enter into the feelings of my son. It is 
understood between us — is it not? — that matters are to 
remain in abeyance for the present. Meanwhile, I hope 


A FACILE TRIUMPH. 


73 


to become better acquainted with you and Miss Vigne. 
Will you not come and lunch with us to-morrow in 
Arlington-street, if you have no better engagement? 

You are very kind/^ answered the Colonel, to 
whom, in truth, this invitation seemed to be a very kind 
one; but — is there not some danger of your hospitality 
being misunderstood by the young people? If they are to 
be disappointed in the end — and I am afraid they will be 
— ought we to give them encouragement in the begin- 
ning? ” 

Lord Middlewood smiled again. “ I think you may 
come to luncheon with a clear conscience,^’ said he. I 
cannot prevent Lionel from marrying your daugh- 
ter ” 

But I can,” interrupted the Colonel. 

Do you really think so? Well, anyhow, it is not 
by raising futile obstacles that we shall discourage him. 
You have been so candid with me. Colonel Vigne, that 
the least I can do is to be candid with you, and I will 
confess that in my opinion Lionel has made up his mind 
in far too great a hurry. Perhaps Miss Vigne may be 
in the same case. Let us give them every opportunity 
of meeting one another — and of meeting other young 
men and women. Then, whether their intimacy results 
in an engagement or not, nobody will be to blame.” 

I am surprised,” the Colonel could not help sapng, 
that you do not make more of the difference between 
our social position and yours.” 

This was momentarily embarrassing for Lord Middle- 
wood, who, at the bottom of his heart, thought that 
that difference w^as considerable. But he made haste 
to reply: 

My dear sir, you speak as an Austrian officer; in 
this country everybody is hoffdhig. Besides, Miss Vigne 
w'as telling me Just now that her mother belonged to 
the Magliacci family, which is a much older one 
than ours, I believe. I remember a Count Cesare 
Magliacci, who was Chamberlain to the Grand Duke of 
Tuscany ” 


74 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


know nothing about him,” broke in Colonel 
Vigne, rather roughly. I am sorry that Marietta 
should have mentioned her mother’s relations, with 
whom we have never been upon speaking terms. My 
marriage, I ought to tell you, was a runaway marriage, 
and at that time it was considered an unpardonable 
offence for an Italian to become the wife of an Aus- 
trian.” 

Lord Middlewood raised his eyebrows slightly. In- 
deed? I should have thought that officials connected 
with the Court of Tuscany — however, it is no business 
of mine. Pray believe that we are very happy to wel- 
come you and Miss Vigne for your own sakes.” 

To ask Colonel Vigne to believe that was to impose 
a rather severe strain upon his credulity; but he be- 
lieved, at all events, that Lord Middlewood was ani- 
mated by a desire to deal politely with him; and on 
the way home he informed his daughter of the honour 
which was in store for her. 

Oh, I know,” she answered; Lionel told me that 
it had been arranged.” 

My dear,” remonstrated the Colonel, you must 
not speak of Mr. Mallet by his Christian name. You 
have not the right to do so, and very likely you may 
never have the right.” 

Marietta laughed; her conviction was that all man- 
ner of rights and privileges were already hers. Her 
head, no doubt, was a little turned by the adulation 
which had been lavished upon her; it would have been 
an extraordinarily strong head if it had not. Men, young 
and old, had tumbled over one another in their eager- 
ness to secure a word with her; ladies of high degree 
had expressed an amiable determination to call in Sey- 
mour-street; nothing seemed more improbable than that 
her hopes would now be dashed to the ground. So it 
was with serene confidence in the future that she 
alighted at the door of Lord Middlewood’s family man- 
sion the next day. 

That highly desirable residence, which of late years 


A FACILE TKIUMPH. 


Y5 


had invariably been let during the season, impressed 
her a good deal, to be sure, by its size, its splendour, 
and the number of swift-footed domestics which it ap- 
peared to contain; but, on the other hand, the greet- 
ing of Betty Mallet, who received the strangers, was 
the reverse of intimidating. 

“ How do you do ? the girl said. Awfully good of 
you to come! Will you sit yourselves down somewhere, 
please, the others will be in presently.” 

The others ” meant only Lord Middlewood and his 
son, who soon entered together, and who approached 
the chair beside the open window, overlooking the 
Green Park, which Marietta had chosen. They were 
evidently upon excellent terms — would they have been 
upon such good terms if there had been any serious 
matter of difference between them? — the elder alluded 
in gracefully selected language to the sensation which 
their guest had created on the previous evening; the 
younger looked both proud and happy. And during 
the informal repast which followed. Marietta was made 
to feel quite at home. “ It is as if I were one of the 
family! ” she said to herself. 

But that was assuming a shade too much. When, 
after luncheon was over and the three men had been 
left to smoke cigarettes in the dining-room, she was 
conducted up stairs again by Betty, the latter gave her 
to understand quite candidly that she had better not 
leap to hasty conclusions. Other remarks, equally can- 
did, but by no means unfriendly, had preceded this 
warning, and it was Marietta’s responsive confessions 
which prompted her new acquaintance to observe: 

^^Well, as I tell you, I myself like the look of you; 
indeed, I don’t see how anybody could help liking the 
look of you. But looks aren’t everything, and you may 
depend upon it that, whatever that crafty old father 
of mine may look like, he doesn’t mean to give in 
without a struggle. I know his little ways! ” 

Lord Middlewood does not look to me like a de- 
ceitful person,” said Marietta. 

6 


76 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


“ He isn’t a bit deceitful. He has been asked to 
consent to Lionel’s marriage, and he says he can’t con- 
sent yet awhile; that’s straight enough, surely! Only 
he isn’t such a goose as to forbid at once a thing which 
he has no power to prevent. He will have to put his 
trust in Providence and diplomacy — especially diplo- 
macy. That is to say that you and Lionel will be 
given every possible chance and temptation to break 
your vows. It’s rather good of me to tell you this, 
you know.” 

Is it ? ” said Marietta dubiously. 

Yes; because I am not exactly bound to put you 
on your guard, and I ought, I suppose, to be more loyal 
to my people than to betray them. But I’m all in favour 
of love-matches. Besides, I think you ought to have 
fair play.” 

Marietta withdrew her great dreamy eyes from the 
verdant prospect beyond the window upon which they 
had been fixed and surveyed her companion curiously. 

You talk more like a man than a woman,” she 
remarked. 

“ Thanks,” answered Betty; I hope I am rather 
more like a man than a woman. Mr. St. Quintin was 
kind enough to say the same thing about me.” 

St. Quintin? — is not that your brother’s friend, 
who was with him at Ponte a Serraglio? I am sure he 
had nothing kind to say about me.” 

^^Well, he didn’t say anything unkind. Naturally, 
he thought you rather a nuisance; for he was supposed 
to be dry-nursing Lionel and I daresay he expected 
to get into a row. However, he hasn’t got into a row; 
on the contrary, my father has secured a capital berth 
for him as private secretary to a Cabinet Minister. That 
will show you that we aren’t shabby, as a family.” 

Marietta was silent for some seconds before she 
asked: After all, what is the objection to me? ” 

^^You have a decided foreign accent,” answered 
Betty, laughing. 

Is that all? ” 


THE PROTESTANT HEROINE. 


77 


“ Oh, no; but one wishes to be polite. Now I’ll 
give you a hint. Don’t try to conciliate papa; he is 
as sharp as a needle, and he doesn’t trust anybody very 
much. As for me, I have almost determined to take 
your part. You have conciliated me without trying, 
and that is a pretty good day’s work to have accom- 
plished, I can tell you. All the same, you mustn’t ex- 
pect to have a walk over.” 

“ A walk over — what is that ? ” Marietta inquired. 

“ It’s what takes place when there is only one starter. 
In this race there will be plenty of starters, you may be 
sure, and most people would be ready to back the field 
at even money. I think myself that a shade of odds 
might be risked on the favourite; but perhaps I 
shouldn’t think so if I knew you better. Anyhow, I 
hope I shall soon know you better.” 

“ I hope so,” answered Marietta, to whom the above 
jargon was quite unintelligible, but who began to per- 
ceive that this self-confident child was not a person to 
be ignored with impunity. 

Then her father came in to tell her that it was time 
to take her leave. Lord Middlewood and Lionel had 
already been called away, it seemed, by some unspecified 
engagement. 


CHAPTER IX. 

THE PROTESTANT HEROINE. 

It is a commonplace amongst hunting men and 
women that the next best thing to consummate skill and 
knowledge of what is required in order to ride straight 
to hounds is absolute ignorance. That she possessed 
the latter qualification may perhaps account for Mari- 
etta Vigne’s unbroken success in her contest against a 
wary and experienced antagonist. Despite Miss Betty’s 


Y8 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


warning, she was not really much afraid of Lord Mid- 
dlewood, who always treated her with the utmost amia- 
bility, nor did she dread the machinations of certain 
ladies who, as time went on, became openly assiduous 
in their attentions to Lionel. If she had been jealous, 
or if she had at all realised what a difficult job she had 
undertaken, she might have said or done something 
foolish and thus played into the hands of her adver- 
saries; but she had complete confidence in her lover’s 
fidelity, while her confidence in her own superiority 
to those who vainly sought to entice him away from her 
never faltered for a moment. 

I like you to seem perfectly free,” she told him on 
one occasion, when he apologised for attending some 
entertainment to which she had not been invited. “ I 
know you would throw these people over at once if I 
asked you, and that is just why I shall never ask you to 
do anything of the sort.” 

But indeed there were few entertainments given in 
the circle of his friends to which she was not bidden. 
Some invitations he did, no doubt, procure for Colonel 
and Miss Vigne; but the majority of the cards which 
littered the drawing-room table in Seymour-street were 
despatched quite spontaneously. Marietta was beauti- 
ful, sang almost like a professional, was out of the com- 
mon, and was unexceptionally vouched for; nothing 
more was needed to insure the Hinging open of a hun- 
dred hospitable doors. And the reception which awaited 
her within those easily forced portals was of a nature 
to satisfy her soul. Invariably she found herself the 
centre of an admiring group; more flattery than she 
could swallow (and the truth is that she could swallow 
a fair amount) was lavished upon her; starred and rib- 
boned statesmen bowed down before her; imperturbable 
youths suffered themselves to be perturbed by the recog- 
nition which she granted to or withheld from them — it 
was the realisation of an extravagant dream. 

To be sure, it did not mean very much — not nearly 
as much as she thought that it meant; and so her 


THE PROTESTANT HEROINE. Y9 

father, who watched his daughter’s triumphs from 
the background, and who could not for the life of 
him help being a little elated by them, took care to 
warn her. 

‘‘ It is because you are a novelty, my dear,” he said; 
it is because you express yourself in language to which 
these fine ladies and gentlemen are not accustomed. 
You are liable to be eclipsed from one moment to an- 
other.” 

“ That is the reason for enjoying the sunshine while 
it lasts,” rejoined Marietta sensibly enough. 

Meanwhile, it was becoming more and more evident 
to Lord Middlewood that the chapter of accidents, upon 
which he had relied, was unlikely to befriend him. The 
girl had made no mistakes, Lionel had been inveigled 
into no flirtations, and time was passing swiftly away. 
He had a last card up his sleeve, which he proceeded 
to play, with a sigh. The presence of his venerable 
mother under his roof was never a source of unmixed 
gratification to him; but he perceived that she must 
now be sent for, and he sent for her. 

In obedience to this summons. Lady Maria, who 
for many years past had abjured the pomps and vanities 
of social London, appeared upon the scene, duly 
equipped with controversial works and fortified by precise 
instructions from the Reverend Mr. Grace. 

“ Send the girl to me,” said she; “ I ask nothing 
more. I flatter myself I shall be able to convince her 
in less than an hour that a Papist has not even the 
right to he called a Christian.” 

“ Oh — but that isn’t quite what we want to prove, 
is it?” objected Lord Middlewood. “We should look 
rather foolish if such a conviction were brought home 
to her and if she acted upon it.” 

“Well, well!” returned the old lady impatiently, 
“ I dare say she will be obstinate. I shall not leave her 
a leg to stand upon; but these people never admit that 
they are worsted in an argument. The astonishing 
thing to my mind is that a man of the world like you 


80 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


and a woman of the world like Clara Gosport should 
have been giving every possible assistance to an ad- 
venturess all this time. What does Betty say? 

“ Betty, I am sorry to tell you, has gone over to the 
enemy, horse, foot and artillery. She says Miss Vigne 
will make as good a sister-in-law as another and a 
better than most.” 

“ She is an impertinent brat! ” 

She is; and for that very reason I deplore her 
desertion of us. Betty is capable of making my life a 
burden to me.” 

“ You ought to he ashamed of confessing to such 
cowardice! ” returned Lady Maria severely. “ To me, 
at all events, Betty will not be -allowed to express any 
opinion about the matter.” 

‘^WonT she indeed? Well, I only trust that Miss 
Vigne will he allowed to express opinions which a Prot- 
estant family cannot countenance.” 

A few days after this Lord Middlewood was walk- 
ing slowly homewards from the House of Lords, where 
he had been present at a debate and had assisted in 
throwing out an obnoxious Bill. It was not often that 
he cared to exercise his privileges as an hereditary legis- 
lator, nor had his vote been required on this particular 
occasion; but he had been glad of an excuse for absent- 
ing himself during the interview which, he knew, had 
been appointed to take place that afternoon between 
his mother and Miss Vigne. A humane man may be 
permitted to dislike witnessing the discomfiture of per- 
sons whom it is indispensable to put to confusion: also 
an honest man may sometimes be driven to employ 
methods of which he does not in his heart altogether 
approve. But when he reached Arlington Street, and 
when — after ascertaining that Miss Vigne had left 
the house some time ago — he went up stairs to the 
little sitting-room which had been appropriated 
to Lady Maria’s use, it was borne in upon him 
that he had taken himself to task somewhat prema- 
turely. 


THE PROTESTANT HEROINE. 81 

That girl is a true Christian! was the announce- 
ment which fell upon his astonished ear.^^ 

“ You donT say so! ejaculated Lord Middlewood. 
“ I hope that doesnT mean that she is not a Roman.^’ 

Well, I hope it means that she will not be a Roman 
long. She has been baptised into the Roman Church 
and educated in Romish errors; but that, as she very 
truly says, is not her fault, poor thing, and I found her 
quite disposed to accept and profess the truth. Erom 
what she tells me, her father, I fear, is not in any sense 
a religious man; still we ought, perhaps, to he thank- 
ful that he is not, since his indifference will make him 
unlikely to raise difficulties.” 

But, good heavens! we want him to raise difficul- 
ties, don’t we? Am I to understand that you are in 
favour of an engagement which you came to London 
for the express purpose of defeating? ” 

My dear Middlewood,” answered Lady Maria, 
gravely and sadly, “ I wish it were possible to make you 
understand that there are more important objects to be 
striven for here below than mere marrying and giving 
in marriage. A great privilege and a great opportunity 
have been granted to me; I may, and I believe I shall, 
be the humble instrument of snatching one brand from 
the burning. Can I at such a time pause to consider 
side issues ? ” 

“ Good Lord! do you call Lionel’s future a side 
issue? By all means, induce the girl, if you can, to be- 
come an Anglican or a Nonconformist or anything 
else you like; but don’t propose to receive her into 
the family with open arms because she is in such 
an indecent hurry to recant! At any rate, you 
would be willing, I suppose, to welcome a converted 
barmaid.” 

Oh, well, she isn’t a barmaid, you know,” said 
Lady Maria, in an altered tone. She is extremely 
pretty — why didn’t you tell me how pretty she is? — 
and she talks like a gentlewoman. I really don’t see 
why she shouldn’t do. If it comes to that, my poor 


82 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


dear Halsted was not precisely a scion of the aristoc- 
racy.” 

He was what he was; hut he had one of those 
fortunes which cover a multitude of sins, whereas Miss 
Vigne has no fortune except her face. But I know 
only too well what the meaning of all this is: you have 
been got at by Betty.” 

Mo such thing! ” returned Lady Maria, with a 
warmth which lent confirmation to her son’s surmise. 
“ It so happens that I do agree with Betty in liking 
and thinking well of the girl; but that is neither here 
nor there. For the present I see my duty plainly marked 
out for me, and you must not ask me to turn aside from 
it in order to further your temjToral ambitions.” 

Lord Middlewood groaned. He thought to himself 
that his mother was easily humbugged; hut there would 
have been little use in giving utterance to his thoughts. 
Besides, the discovery was not a novel one. “ This is 
the sort of thing which shakes one’s faith in the exist- 
ence of an overruling Providence,” was the only remark 
that he made. It may possibly have been noticed be- 
fore now by very acute observers of human nature that 
faith in the existence of an overruling Providence is 
apt to he the result of the faithful one’s having ob- 
tained rather more than he or she had expected. Mari- 
etta Vigne had scarcely expected to storm the citadel 
of Lady Maria Halsted’s prejudices with a rush, and 
that, no doubt, was why she was even now confiding 
to her lover that she believed Heaven to be on their 
side. 

‘^My father,” she added, ‘‘always says that Chris- 
tianity is not a question of creeds, and that, so long 
as we try to do our duty it cannot matter whether we 
belong to this Church or that.” 

Colonel Vigne was not present to acknowledge or 
repudiate the liberal views imputed to him. He had 
gone out for a walk, as his habit was at that hour of the 
day, and Lionel had the little drawing room in Seymour- 
street and his betrothed all to himself. His rejoinder 


THE PROTESTANT HEROINE. 


83 


was that of a man who, without holding any exclusive 
religious opinions, was nevertheless bound by clear and 
strict ideas respecting honour and honesty. 

“ I shouldn’t like you to change your religion in 
order to please my grandmother,” said he. Even if 
our marriage depended upon her goodwill — which of 
course it doesn’t — that would be rather too great a con- 
cession to make.” 

But we are dependent upon her! ” Marietta de- 
clared. At any rate, I can see that it is in her power 
to bring about endless delays and difficulties. And 
why should there be anything unnatural in my being 
ready to conform to my husband’s religion? I thought 
you would be glad.” 

He hastened to assure her that he was glad. In truth, 
notwithstanding his reliance upon himself and his de- 
termination to insist upon the rights that belonged to 
him, he was alive to the desirability of conciliating his 
family, and he was aware that his father would not 
long be able to hold out against the combined pressure 
of Betty and Lady Maria. 

I hope we should not have allowed either the 
Pope or grandmother to come between us in any 
case,” he remarked; still there’s no denying that com- 
plications will be avoided by your joining the Church 
of England.” 

Paris vaut lien une messe/’ she returned, laugh- 
ing. 

The quotation jarred upon him a little; hut he was 
in love to the happy extent of believing that the object 
of his adoration could do no wrong. Moreover, he was 
eager to terminate a provisional state of things which 
had become irksome to him in more ways than one, 
and which had from the first seemed to him to be super- 
fluous. 

“ Our respective parents ought soon to show them- 
selves tractable now,” he remarked in a satisfied tone, 
before changing the subject to one of even more im- 
mediate personal interest. 


84 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Thus, without let or hindrance (for Colonel Vigne 
could not see his way to interfere), the conversion of 
Marietta was speedily accomplished, and the Reverend 
Mr. Grace returned thanks where, in his opinion, thanks 
were due. Lord Middlewood, on the other hand, if not 
thankful, perceived that it behoved him to display resig- 
nation. He summoned his son and heir, one afternoon, 
and said: 

Well, Lionel, the date which you kindly allowed 
me to fix is at hand. I have done the best I could for 
you; but it is evident that I have ignominiously failed. 
Under all the circumstances, I had better, I suppose, 
ask you to accept my blessing.” 

Thank you,” answered Lionel, smiling; “ but why 
should you look so sorrowful about it? When all is 
said, I am not going to make a misalliance.” 

That depends entirely upon the meaning which 
may be attached to the term. Using it in its ordinary 
sense, one ventures to think that you are entitled to look 
a little higher; but we will waive that point, if you like. 
My objection to Miss Yigne — supposing that any ob- 
jections of mine were likely to count — would be that she 
is undesirable in respect of qualities which have nothing 
to do with her social standing.” 

I am sorry to hear you say so,” returned Lionel, 
looking grave and somewhat combative. “ I doubt 
whether you would find many people to agree with you. 
What qualities do you allude to ? ” 

Do you really wish me to tell you? I shall make 
you angry if I do.” 

“ That may be; but I should like to hear why you 
disapprove of her all the same.” 

Well — she is a silly woman.” 

Silly! ” 

can’t find any other adjective that fits. She is 
ambitious in an aimless sort of way, she is greedy of ad- 
miration, and she has not been broken to harness, like 
the average young Englishwoman of your own class.” 

Like Betty, for instance? ” 


THE PROTESTANT HEROINE. 


85 


“ Betty, I grant you, is an exceptional specimen. 
But then she is a person of very decided character, and 
she knows what she wants.” 

And does not Marietta? ” 

Most assuredly not. For the moment, of course, 
she wants to marry you, which is scarcely surprising; 
but by this time next year she may be wishing to Heaven 
that she had married somebody else. In short, she is 
an unknown quantity — unknown to herself and every- 
body else, but more especially to you, who have simply 
gone crazy about her because she has a pretty face.” 

This was sufficiently true to be irritating. Really,” 
exclaimed Lionel, I can’t make out what you are driv- 
ing at. If she is an unknown quantity, how do you 
know that she is silly and ambitious and all the rest of 
it? For the matter of that, every girl might be called 
an unknown quantity, I suppose — and every young man 
too.” 

“ Oh, I don’t pretend to any certainty as to how 
you will behave; most of us become what we are made 
by circumstances. Only I have had the advantage of 
watching your career so far rather more closely than 
you have noticed, so that I believe that I could draw 
you in outline. You have the defects corresponding 
to your virtues, which may be summed up as pluck, 
generosity, and scrupulous veracity. You are not want- 
ing in intelligence; but you are unobservant, easy-going, 
and a poor judge of human nature. Such people are 
more likely to be sinned against than sinning. For 
choice, one would rather that you were not sinned 
against, that’s all.” 

Lionel flushed a little. His intelligence was equal 
to the comprehension of what it was that his father 
foresaw, and the complimentary estimate of himself by 
which the warning had been accompanied did not render 
it the less offensive to him. 

In a few years’ time,” he replied gravely, you will 
admit, I hope,^ that I am at least in no danger of being 
sinned against by my wife.’' 


86 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


“ My dear fellow, I shall not be here. During the 
last month I have seen three eminent doctors, and al- 
though they have favoured me with three interestingly 
distinct opinions upon my case, they are of one mind 
in advising me to set my affairs in order. Consequently, 
so far as I am concerned, nothing matters very much. 
As 1 began by saying, I have done what I could for you, 
and failed. I have now — at your request, remember — 
given you my opinion of the lady whom you propose to 
marry, without converting you to my way of thinking. 
It only remains for us to shake hands, hope for the best, 
and dismiss the subject.’’ 

It was Lord Middlewood’s custom to speak of him- 
self as moribund, and his son was not quite in a good 
enough humour to meet him with the contradiction 
which may have been tacitly requested. As for shaking 
hands and dismissing the subject, that was a request 
with which it was not difficult to comply. All that 
could be profitably said upon the subject seemed to have 
been said. 

In the course of the ensuing day everybody (the few 
hundred ladies and gentlemen who took an interest in 
the matter being collectively known as everybody) had 
learnt that Lionel Mallet was going to marry a nobody. 
Everybody of course said it was a great pity, and some 
matrons, no doubt, secretly gnashed their teeth; but 
that did not prevent Miss Vigne from being the recipient 
of many amiable congratulations. Kings and queens, it is 
said, are precluded by their position from ever hearing 
the truth; perhaps very wealthy people, who are sure to 
entertain a good deal, labour under a somewhat simi- 
lar disability. At any rate. Marietta was made to feel 
that she had won a vast number of friends in a singular- 
ly short space of time, while the only friend who spoke 
in language of dissatisfaction to Lionel was the de- 
plorably honest private secretary of a certain power- 
ful Cabinet Minister. 

I take it as a great compliment that you should ask 
me to be your best man, old fellow,” said St. Quintin; 


MARIETTA AT HOME. 87 

but I must confess that I wish you were not likely 
to be in want of a best man quite so soon.” 

Well, I have waited as long as I was begged to wait, 
haven’t I ? ” returned Lionel, 

“ Yes; only, considering Colonel Vigne’s attitude, 
your father might have managed to make you wait 
rather longer, I should have thought. The fact appears 
to be that he is ruled by your sister. I was talking it 
over with your sister yesterday, and I told her that she 
was really responsible for this — which is a little ridicu- 
lous, you know, seeing that she isn’t out of the school- 
room yet.” 

I hope, for your sake,” said Lionel, laughing, that 
you didn’t remind her of that.” 

“ I did though, and she took it very well.” 

“ Then she must resemble me, for you’ll allow that 
I am taking your unpleasant remarks very well. Have 
you any more of them to make ? ” 

No,” answered St. Quin tin meditatively, I don’t 
think so. There are one or two more that I might 
make if I chose; but what would be the good? Hence- 
forth I shall hold my peace — unless somebody sees fit 
to attack you or your future wife in my presence.” 


CHAPTER X. 

MARIETTA AT HOME. 

One misty, chilly afternoon in autumn, a lady whose 
person and costume were alike fitted to command the 
admiration of the most fastidious critic was toasting 
her toes before a blazing wood fire in a room which con- 
tained no critics to admire her. However, she did not 
mind that; for plenty of respectful admirers who had 
gone out shooting would be back shortly, and in the 


88 


MARIETTAS MARRIAGE. 


meantime she was very well pleased with her own com- 
pany and with the retrospective musings which had 
brought a smile of contentment to her lips. 

The beautiful Mrs. Mallet would indeed have been 
hard to please had she been otherwise than contented 
with her lot. From the day of her marriage in London 
up to that on which we renew acquaintance with her in 
the boudoir at Ludworth, which had been furnished in . 
obedience to her own choice and orders, the record of 
the past few months had been one of unbroken success 
for her. The summer had been spent partly in the 
charming home which had the good fortune to realise 
her ideal of what a house ought to be, partly in visits 
to relations and friends of her husband’s, all of whom 
had received her in the kindest possible manner. She 
was well aware, that at the outset she had had a certain 
amount of prejudice to overcome and equally well aware 
of having triumphed over it; she was not yet weary 
of the delight of disbursing pocket-money profusely, 
nor had the pleasure of being recognised as a great lady 
by numerous humbler folk began to pall upon her. As 
for Lionel, his conduct had been perfect; any half- 
acknowledged doubts which may at one time have found 
their way into her mind as to whether she would have 
wished to pass her life with him if he had not been what 
he was had now been happily dismissed; she was as 
much enamoured of him as she was of her actual posi- 
tion — and that was saying a great deal. 

Looking back upon the brief history of her mar- 
ried life, she could recall nothing to regret and scarcely 
an incident which had not been thoroughly enjoyable. 
A slight, very slight, passage of arms with Lady Maria 
Halsted, who had made an early bid for dictatorship 
and failed, could hardly be accounted a subject for re- 
gret, since it had been obvious from the first that the 
Evangelical contingent would have to be reckoned with 
sooner or later, and it had been Lionel’s wish, not less 
than her own, to decline the admonitiors of the Eev- 
erend Mr. Grace and his brethren. Lord Middlewood, 


MARIETTA AT HOME. 


89 


who had until recently been nursing his various ailments 
at a German spa, had given no trouble at all; Betty, 
who was even now staying at Ludworth as one of a 
large house-party, remained friendly and affectionate; 
finally. Colonel Vigne, back in Vienna amongst the 
cronies of former years, had been satisfactorily dis- 
posed of. 

It was then she thought of her father that a faint 
touch of compunction marred the serenity of Marietta's 
musings; for she could not help acknowledging that the 
marriage which he had done so little to promote had 
neither brought additional happiness into his life nor 
additional money into his ill-furnished purse. Not that 
she was to blame for that; she could do no more than 
second the very generous offers which Lionel had made, 
and to which the Colonel had refused to listen. Still 
the fact remained that the old man had been dismissed 
— or rather had dismissed himself — to end his days in 
solitude, and what caused her a passing pang was the 
consciousness that it had been rather a relief to her 
to think of him, as aforesaid, in the light of a person 
satisfactorily disposed of. Her father, to tell the truth, 
had been a little provoking, with his persistent and quite 
unnecessary allusions to the humility of their origin and 
his absolute refusal to make overtures to the Magliacci 
family — a step which, under all the circumstances, 
might surely have been ventured upon. However, he 
was gone, and his letters, though cheerful, were rather 
pathetic; and sometimes she felt as if she had not 
treated him too well. 

To give another turn to her reflections, and also to 
discover, if possible, the cause of shouts of laughter 
which had been indistinctly borne to her ears at in- 
tervals during the last quarter of an hour, she rose and 
walked to the window. In the park, beyond the flower- 
garden and the sunk fence, Betty could be seen, stand- 
ing up in a little two-wheeled cart, to which a recal- 
citrant donkey had been harnessed. That wilful animal 
was apparently offering a successful resistance to the 


90 


MAKIETTA’S JVIARRIAGE. 


efforts that were being made to break him in. With 
rigid forelegs and ears laid back, he seemed to be in a 
fair way to kick himself free of everything, and the 
descending lash of his charioteer had evidently no ter- 
rors for his thick hide. Presently he changed his tac- 
tics, flung himself into his collar, and started off into 
a lumbering gallop, Betty losing her balance and sub- 
siding ignominiously into a sitting posture, while another 
loud guffaw hailed her discomfiture. Marietta went 
away to put on her hat and jacket, and emerged from 
the house just in time to witness the overthrow of her 
sister-in-law, and the defeat of science by brute force. 
A tall young man in knickerbocker breeches and leather 
leggings was disengaging the donkey from the ruins 
of the cart when his hostess advanced across the wet 
grass and made him jump round by saying rather 
coldly: 

Oh, it was you who have been making all that 
noise, then, Mr. St. Quintin? I heard you from the 
house; but I couldn’t see you, and ” 

And you thought you were listening to the don- 
key,” interpolated Betty. “ A very natural mistake, 
I’m sure. Wait a bit, though! I’ll make both the 
donkey and Mr. St. Quintin laugh on the wrong side of 
their mouths before I’ve done with them. That beast,” 
she continued, pointing to the author of her mishap, 
who was placidly cropping the turf, is being educated 
by me to draw granny’s bath-chair, and educated he 
shall be, if I have to smash up a dozen of Lionel’s carts 
before I bring him to reason. He wouldn’t have been 
half so troublesome this afternoon, only he was backed 
up and encouraged by the unmannerly yells which dis- 
turbed you. This colnes of being interrupted in one’s 
work by people who ought to be out shooting. Take 
him away. Marietta, like a good creature, and perhaps 
one of you will just let the gardener know that a wheel 
has unfortunately come off the cart he lent me. I 
must see what I can do with the reins and the whip 
alone.” 


MARIETTA AT HOME. 


91 


She and the donkey were off in a trice, and soon 
disappeared in the misty twilight, pursued by St. Quin- 
tin’s warning cry of Mind his heels! ” 

I thought you had gone out with the others,” said 
Marietta, speaking in the constrained tone which she 
was apt to adopt when addressing a man whom she had 
never been able to like, and who, she was convinced, 
did not like her. 

“ I was shooting so badly that I left them soon after 
luncheon,” answered St. Quintin. “ For the last hour 
I have been watching Miss Mallet, which has really been 
as good as a play.” 

He laughed under his breath at the recollection, 
thereby, for some occult reason, irritating his com- 
panion, who remarked: 

And you preferred watching Betty to helping her, 
I suppose ? ” 

“ Oh, she wouldn’t have allowed me to help her,” 
St. Quintin replied. Besides, I am not at all sure 
that I could have been of any use to her. She knows 
better than I do what she is about.” 

Really! You don’t often give people credit for 
being so wise as that, do you? ” 

St. Quintin looked surprised and distressed. He 
was unconscious of having done anything to deserve 
the snubs which his friend’s wife so frequently inflicted 
upon him; but he had hitherto deemed it best to take 
no notice of them. How, however, he ventured to ask: 

“ What do you mean ? ” 

“ Only that you are rather fond of giving advice, 
are you not? I dare say it is very good advice. Lionel 
says it is; and he ought to know, if anybody does.” 

It is not always easy to bear in mind the transforma- 
tion which matrimony necessarily effects in the friends 
of bachelor years. St. Quintin knew by hearsay that 
newly-married men are in the habit of confiding every- 
thing to their wives; but perhaps he had forgotten 
this in talking to Lionel, who had seemed to be so little 
altered, and to whom he was penitently aware of having 
7 


92 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


offered sage counsel which might have seemed a trifle 
priggish on repetition. 

‘‘ I’m afraid you think me a meddlesome sort of 
fellow/’ said he. I suppose I do appear meddlesome — 
though the honest truth is that I have only spoken 
when I was consulted.” 

Viewed in the light of a would-he conciliatory 
speech, this was scarcely happy. It was just because 
St. Quintin had been consulted about so many matters 
which were no business of his that Marietta had a hone 
to pick with him. 

Lionel is wonderfully good-natured,” she remarked; 
“ he is always willing to listen to anybody’s opinion. 
Still it seems to me that, if I were in his place, I should 
consider myself old enough to know my own mind.” 

So he does,” St. Quintin declared. Men who know 
their own minds are the very men who don’t object to 
hearing what other people may have to say. But as far 
as this question of his going into Parliament is concerned, 
there can’t very well be two opinions, and what I think 
is what all his friends must think. Surely you are not 
against his profiting by such an opportunity! ” 

“ I don’t know what you mean,” said Marietta; I 
had not heard that there was any question of his going 
into Parliament.” 

Well, if she had not been told, that was, no doubt, 
a legitimate grievance; hut St. Quintin made haste to 
explain that negotiations had only that morning as- 
sumed a definite form. 

As you did not come down to breakfast, Lionel 
could not show you his letters, and very likely he may 
have felt some scruple about mentioning preliminaries 
which he had been asked to treat as confidential. As 
for me, I was instructed to sound him by my chief, 
which accounts for my having been in the secret. But 
there is no further need for secrecy now. He has been 
formally invited to stand for the seat which Mr. Mitchell 
is resigning on account of had health, and as a large 
proportion of the electors are either his own tenants or 


MARIETTA AT HOME. 


93 


Lord Middlewood’s, he will probably be returned un- 
opposed.” 

The tempestuous reappearance of Betty and the don- 
key, both of whom exhibited symptoms of distress, re- 
lieved Marietta from the necessity of making any re- 
joinder. Her ideas of what might be implied by a seat 
in the House of Commons were of the haziest order, 
and she would have had nothing to urge for or against 
the contemplated step, had she been informed of it; but 
this fresh proof of St. Quintin's influence over her hus- 
band was rather mortifying. 

“ Mark my words,” said Betty, as soon as she had 
recovered her breath; ‘^Hhat moke will have been 
brought to his senses in another twenty-four hours, 
and by the end of the week I shall be able to warrant 
him fit for the use of the most nervous old lady. He 
knows now what happens when I have a donkey that 
won’t go! ” 

I shall make it my business,” St. Quintin declared, 
to place myself in communication with the local repre- 
sentative of the S. P. C. A.” 

You had better! And how about that wounded 
partridge this morning, eh? Mow Pll tell you what I 
wish you would do. Just harness him to the remains 
of the cart, and we’ll ask him whether he minds help- 
ing us home with it.” 

Betty and St. Quintin moved away together, and 
Marietta walked on towards the house, which she 
reached simultaneously with the returning sportsmen. 
These were accompanied by several of her lady guests, 
who had gone out to meet them, and everybody wanted 
tea. So it was not until two hours later, when she had 
finished dressing for dinner, that she was able to snatch 
a few hurried moments in private with her husband. 

“ Why did you never tell me that you were going 
to be a deputy? ” she began. 

Lionel was searching high and low for the sleeve- 
links which his valet, v/ho had left the room on Mrs. 
Mallet’s entrance, had deposited in some improbable 


94 


MARIETTA S MARRIAGE. 


place. “What did you say that I was going to be?"’ 
he asked, in a pre-occupied voice. “ Oh! an M. P. you 
mean. Well, they haven’t elected me yet; but I suppose 
I shall be returned. I’m not sure that it isn’t rather 
a bore; still, it’s one’s manifest duty. So St. Quintin 
tells me, anyhow.” 

“ Must you always be guided by Mr. St. Quin- 
tin? Am I so utterly unimportant that I am not even 
to hear of what you mean to do until everything is 
settled? ” 

Lionel lifted an astonished countenance towards his 
wife’s aggrieved one. “ Will you mind having to be half 
the year in London?” he asked. “I thought you 
would prefer it.” 

“ I mind nothing, except your keeping secrets from 
me,” she replied. “ I think that is rather unkind and 
rather humiliating. I could see that that man exulted 
over me this afternoon when I was obliged to confess 
that you had not said a word to me about your plans.” 

Lionel made an instant and full apology. He had 
been under the impression, he said, that she took no 
particular interest in politics, but she might be certain 
that he would never willingly conceal anything from her 
in which she would be likely to be interested. “ Of 
course there are heaps of things — matters of business 
and so forth — which it doesn’t occur to one to mention 
to — to — ” he was going to say “ to women,” but substi- 
tuted, “ to those who are not directly connected with 
them.” 

“ Is Mr. St. Quintin directly connected with this 
matter? ” 

“Well, yes; one may say that he is, for he brought 
me a very civil message from the Home Secretary. By 
the way, you must have been quite mistaken in imagin- 
ing that he exulted over you. I notice that you dislike 
St. Quintin, Marietta, and I am sorry for it; because 
he is one of the best fellows in the world. You will 
think so when you know him better.” 

“ I know that he did all he could to prevent our 


MARIETTA AT HOME. 


95 

marriage,” she returned. If I dislike him — and I do 
— it is chiefly because he dislikes me.” 

LioneFs protest had not the ring of complete convic- 
tion. Both he and his friend were honest men; con- 
sequently, the sentiments of the one could not he wholly 
unsuspected by the other; although, of course, they had 
been carefully suppressed. 

am not jealous,” resumed Marietta; don’t 
think anybody could call me that. But you must not 
expect me to be delighted when I find that you are so 
much more influenced by some one else than you are 
by me.” 

This was the first approach to a difference that had 
taken place between the young people. It was pre- 
vented from reaching the proportions of a quarrel partly 
by the convincing, if rather illogical, measures to which 
Lionel, who was still a lover, had prompt recourse, 
partly by the more prosaic circumstances that the din- 
ner gong had sounded some five minutes before, and 
that their guests were presumably waiting for them. 

But, lover though he was, Lionel Mallet did not 
happen to be of an uxorious temperament. It was cer- 
tain that in the more serious crises of existence he would 
not allow himself to be dictated to by his wife — would 
not even so much as understand her wishing to dictate 
to him; and, that being so, there were some obvious 
danger of an ultimate collision between him and a lady 
who believed herself born to command. On the way 
down stairs he was ill-advised enough to say: Mari- 
etta, dear, you’ll be pleasant to St. Quintin, won’t you? 
I particularly want you to be pleasant to him.” 

She nodded; and in the course of the evening she 
contrived to make herself so pleasant to her husband’s 
friend that that well-meaning gentleman inwardly re- 
solved to cut his visit short and be summoned away on 
the morrow. 


MAKIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


CHAPTER XI. 

ROLAND STRAHAN. 

To the Englishman of noble or gentle birth and 
sufficient fortune nothing is apt to seem quite so impor- 
tant in life as sports and pastimes. These, indeed, may 
almost be said to constitute the chief business, as they 
certainly constitute the chief pleasure, of his existence; 
from earliest childhood he is initiated into the science, 
the rules and the discipline of them; they form his 
character, determine his habit of mind, and make him 
what he is. He might, as most unprejudiced persons 
will agree, be a very much worse fellow; some may even 
doubt whether a different system of education could 
have produced a much better fellow. Such as he is, 
he has ruled our national destinies for generations, with 
results of which we have no great need to be ashamed; 
and now that the advance of democracy is rapidly tak- 
ing power out of his hands, it does not seem altogether 
certain that his successors will prove his superiors. An 
alien critic, to be sure, may plausibly maintain that 
politics are rather too serious a matter to be treated 
as a mere game; but perhaps alien critics do not realise 
that it is possible to make games serious enough for 
anything. 

Lionel Mallet embarked upon the political career 
which was destined to interest him more than hunt- 
ing, shooting, racing, or cricket, with no very great 
enthusiasm, yet with the determination which might 
have been expected of him to learn accepted rules and 
conditions and to “ play the game ” in a thoroughly 
sportsmanlike spirit. A Conservative by inheritance, 
and subsequently by conviction, he was nevertheless 
willing to make such allowances as might be possible 
for the point of view of his opponents, and that, no 
doubt, accounts in some measure for his being at the 
present time of writing one of the most universally 


ROLAND STRAHAN. 


97 


popular of public men. But when he was returned to 
Parliament, unopposed, for the division in which his 
own estates and his father’s lay, he had little idea of 
ever playing a prominent part in public affairs. It had 
been represented to him that it would be a dereliction 
of duty on his part to refuse to come forward, and he 
had acknowledged the Justice of the assertion. Per- 
sonally, he did not fancy the prospect of residing in 
London from January till August, nor did he think 
that it would be very good fun to listen for hours at a 
stretch to long-winded orations upon subjects as to 
which his mind was already made up; but if the thing 
was to be done at all, it behoved him, he considered, 
to put his back into it; so he surrendered his leisure 
to a course of study and a sedulous attendance at pro- 
vincial meetings whence, in due course of time, he 
reaped his reward. 

Thus the early spring found him and his wife estab- 
lished in Arlington-street, the family mansion having 
been placed at their disposal by Lord Middlewood, who 
had himself no intention of occupying it. Lionel in 
those days was a happy man, and Marietta, so far as he 
could Judge, was a very happy woman. Certainly she 
had every reason to be happy, for she was blessed with 
health, wealth and beauty, while the social success which 
had never ceased to smile upon her since her first land- 
ing on the shores of England had become wider and 
more pronounced during the weeks which had followed 
the reassembling of Parliament. Yet she had moments, 
not to say hours, of discontent — moments and hours 
when she felt as if all this prosperity and glory had been 
gained by rather too slight an effort; that it was scarce- 
ly personal enough to wholly satisfactory; that the 
tribute was paid not so much to herself as to the station 
conferred upon her by her marriage; and that she would 
have enjoyed her conquests far more had they been won 
as a renowned cantatrice than as the wife of the Honour- 
able Lionel Mallet, M. P. Consequently, she had occa- 
sional fits of what a less amiable man than her husband 


98 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


might have called nasty temper, and at such times she 
was extremely hard to please. She indulged in dis- 
paraging criticisms upon his friends — a thing which 
always vexed him; she yawned over his descriptions of 
the debates; she even affected, every now and again, to be 
jealous; though that was not an easy pretence to keep 
up, since it was obvious that he had eyes for no woman 
but her. However, he was so seldom at home during 
the day, and they had so many evening engagements, 
that there was little time or opportunity for domestic 
squabbles. 

One afternoon Marietta, who had been driving in the 
Park, was seated beside one of the open windows of the 
drawing-room, through which the scent of the hyacinths 
and lilies of the valley which had been banked up out- 
side it was wafted to her by a soft westerly breeze, 
when Mr. St. Quintin was announced. It was not very 
often that she was favoured with a call from St. Quin- 
tin, although he was often enough in the house, and 
the intruder lost no time in apologising for his intrusion. 

“ I thought I should find Mallet at home,” he ex- 
plained; I wanted rather particularly to see him. 
But they tell me he is sure to be in soon.” 

If they tell you so, no doubt it is so,” answered 
Marietta, smiling. “ I never can remember myself on 
which afternoons of the week the House of Commons 
is supposed to be able to get on without him. Won’t 
you sit down and have a cup of tea with me in the mean- 
time?” 

She was not much more fond of St. Quintin than 
she had been in former days; but she had reached the 
conclusion that he was unimportant. It was not worth 
while, she thought, to be rude to the man, nor would 
any amount of rudeness on her part put a stop to the 
intimacy which existed between him and her husband. 

Have you come to offer Lionel a post in the Min- 
istry?” she inquired, after her visitor had rung the 
bell, at her request, and a couple of servants had re- 
sponded with a tea-table and a tea-tray. 


ROLAND STRAHAN. 


99 


" Oh, not yet/^ answered St. Quintin, quite seriously; 
^^that would be unprecedented, I should think, in the 
case of a man who has never opened his lips in the 
House. But he has done some good work outside the 
House, and there is one subject which he is believed 
to have mastered. We hope he may be willing to make 
his maiden speech about it. Then, if he speaks well, 
he will have taken a long step towards office.^’ 

Really? I don’t understand much about these 
matters; but from what people say, it seems to me that 
he will only be able to keep out of office by being ex- 
traordinarily stupid. Isn’t he as inevitably born to be- 
come a Minister as he is to become a peer some day? ” 
Certainly not,” St. Quintin replied. It is true 
that he starts in the race favourably handicapped; but 
that doesn’t mean that he has no formidable competi- 
tors. You don’t,” he added, seem to be very am- 
bitious for him.” 

‘‘Is he so very ambitious for himself? Don’t you 
think he would much rather win the Derby with one of 
those long-legged foals whom he is always examining 
so anxiously down at Ludworth than be Prime Minister 
of England? ” 

Lionel walked into the room before any answer could 
be returned, and the question was at once referred to 
him by St. Quintin. 

He laughed and said that he had no chance of ever 
being Prime Minister, whereas it was always within 
the limits of possibility that he, or anybody else who 
kept a small racing stud, might own the best horse of 
the year. 

“ But you would rather, for choice, win the Derby 
than be a great political personage,” persisted Mari- 
etta; “ and I think you are quite right. What pleasure 
is there in holding one’s mouth open for the fruit to 
drop into it? What one wants is to accomplish some- 
thing which other people, with the same advantages, 
can’t accomplish.” 

Lionel was not quite sure that that was what he. 


100 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


personally, wanted; but he agreed that a man who had 
contrived to force his way to the front by means of his 
own exertions and abilities had more to be prond of 
than one for whom the path to distinction lay open 
and plain. 

And that reminds me,” he continued, that I met 
a man just now who has neither fortune nor interest 
at his back, but who will be a big man one of these days, 
unless I am very much mistaken. You know, I always 
told you, St. Quintin, that Strahan was bound to make 
himself heard of in the world.” 

St. Quintin^s grimace expressed neither pleasure nor 
approval. Is that fellow back in England already? ” 
he asked. “ I thought he had gone out to Australia to 
make himself heard of there.” 

Well, I gather froip what he says that the shortest 
road to distinction out there leads round by London. 
Anyhow, he has thought it worth while to undertake 
the voyage and try what can be done with home au- 
thorities and financiers towards pushing the fortunes 
of his colony.” 

Oh, I see — gold mines.” 

Very likely. He didn’t go much into details; but 
he seems to be convinced that the colony has a great 
future before it. I asked him to come and dine on 
Sunday; so you’ll meet him then and hear what he has to 
say.” 

Marietta pushed back her chair to bring it alongside 
of the writing-table on which her engagement-book 
lay. I hope your friend is not superstitious,” she re- 
marked; for if he dines here on Sunday we shall sit 
down thirteen.” 

Lionel thought there would be no difficulty about 
securing a fourteenth guest; but St. Quintin at once 
begged that he might be allowed to cede his place to 
the returned colonist. I shall really be glad of a quiet 
evening,” he said; ‘‘I have such a heap of work to 
get through just now. Besides, as you know, I never 
was one of Strahan’s admirers. I trust he won’t induce 


ROLAND STRAHAN. 


101 


you to finance some rotten company or other for him; 
hefil get very little change out of Mr. Sitwell, I’m 
sure.” 

Mr. Sitwell, who was at that time Secretary of State 
for the Colonies, had the reputation of being a shrewd 
and hard-headed functionary. 

I don’t know about that,” answered Lionel, laugh- 
ing; “ all I can tell you is that he was talking with 
Sitwell on the steps of the Carlton when I met him.” 

St. Quintin raised his eyebrows. That’s pretty 
well for a man who holds no credentials — I suppose he 
can hardly be armed with credentials yet. Still, any- 
thing that can be accomplished by means of impudence 
he will accomplish, no doubt.” 

“ And ability. I think you must allow him some 
credit for ability.” 

“ Well, ability of a certain kind, if you insist upon 
it; but I prefer the kind of ability which goes with 
honesty, like yours. Mallet — and so do more important 
persons than I. That reminds me that I was sent to 
say a word or two to you about ” 

He dropped his voice, as he led his friend away to 
the other end of the long room, which they both pres- 
ently quitted, conversing while they went. Marietta 
made no effort to detain them, nor had she any curiosity 
as to the subject which apparently interested them so 
much. On the other hand, she did feel some passing 
curiosity with regard to the unknown Strahan, whom 
she surmised to be a clever adventurer. It seemed not 
improbable that the man might amuse her; in any case, 
he would be more amusing, she hoped, than Mr. St. 
Quintin, whose dislike for him predisposed her in his 
favour. 

The world at large had rather mere valid reasons 
than that for being predisposed in favour of Roland 
Strahan. At Oxford, where he had taken high honours, 
he had been decidedly and deservedly popular with a 
numerous acquaintance, although he could not be said 
to have any very intimate friends. There was some- 


102 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


thing about him, despite his pleasant manners and the 
ease with which he adapted himself to his company, 
which seemed to discourage intimacy: perhaps it was 
a certain suggestion of reserve on his part; perhaps 
(as Lionel Mallet, who knew him better than anybody^ 
averred) it was the sense which nine men out of every 
ten who were brought into contact with him experi- 
enced, that they were in the presence of their intel- 
lectual superior. However that may have been, he had 
been liked by undergraduates, and was pretty sure of 
being liked by men of action all the world over, seeing 
that he could ride, shoot, row, and, if necessary, fight 
with the best of them. 

Amongst the ten invited guests to. whom Mrs. Mallet 
extended a gracious welcome on the ensuing Sunday 
evening, this wiry, alert little man, with the keen, gray 
eyes, the low, broad forehead, and the square jaws, 
speedily established a claim to pre-eminence in her opin- 
ion. In anticipation of his doing so, she had so far 
defied the laws of precedence as to arrange that he 
should sit on her right hand, and he rewarded her by 
proving himself a highly entertaining neighbour. 

Of course, if one could chose, one would prefer an 
English to a Colonial career,” he wound up a graphic 
account of some of his Australian experiences by say- 
ing, but the main thing is to have a possibility of a 
career somewhere — to feel that one has as good a chance 
of coming to the front as anybody else. In this country 
the chances aren’t equal — which may be just as well 
for the country, but is a little discouraging to the in- 
dividual.” 

Only the greater the difficulties, the greater the 
triumph,” remarked Marietta. 

Yes; but the slower in coming. One would fain 
achieve one’s little triumphs while one is still young 
enough to enjoy them, and that is why the best years 
of my life will probably be spent at the Antipodes.” 

What a pity that seems! ” exclaimed Marietta, half- 
involuntarily. 


ROLAND STRAHAN. 


103 


He laughed and asked why she considered it a pity, 
to which she replied that everybody must consider it 
so. There are such crowds of eminent noblemen and 
gentlemen who might sail for Australia to-morrow, 
and it would not matter in the least if they never re- 
turned! 

So you really think that I am one of those whose 
absence is likely to be felt as a loss by their native 
country? A few more such speeches, Mrs: Mallet, and 
you will make me so intolerably vain that no country 
will consent to harbour me. My friends assure me that 
I have quite a sufficiently high opinion of myself as 
it is.” 

He was perhaps justified in entertaining a pretty 
good opinion of himself; for, young though he was, 
he had already accomplished much, with nothing hut 
his own bright wits and energy to back him, and he 
was on the high road towards accomplishing far more. 
To Marietta he appeared to be self-reliant rather than 
conceited, and his smiling, frankly interrogative gaze 
encouraged her to pay him that additional compliment. 

Thank you,” he returned; ‘‘ I suppose I am self- 
reliant — it would be a bad job for me if I were not! ” 

Don’t you think it is rather a bad job for any- 
body to be provided with other people and things to 
rely upon? There is my husband, for instance, who 
could hardly manage to he a failure if he tried.” 

Dear me! does he complain of that? ” 

Not that I know of; but ” 

But you do, perhaps ? ” 

Sometimes it seems to me a little dull to he alwa3^s 
on the winning side. To he absolutely certain of per- 
petual happiness would be only a shade better than 
being certain of perpetual misery, I think. How can 
people really want to go to heaven? ” 

I have never yet,” answered Mr. Strahan, “ en- 
countered man or woman who was in the slightest 
hurry to go there; hut what lends attractiveness to the 
prospect is precisely its uncertainty, you see. After 


104 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


all, Mallet isn’t sure of ever being Premier, or even a 
Cabinet Minister; so one understands his cheerful tol- 
eration of the House of Commons. Your case is less 
simple; because Fortune, I am afraid, has left you ab- 
solutely nothing to wish for.” 

She made a grimace and shrugged her shoulders, 
while he, scrutinising her sharply for a moment, 
smoothed a nascent smile away from his lips with his 
napkin. Roland Strahan understood men better than 
he did women; yet he was not without experience of 
feminine peculiarities, and he thought he could per- 
ceive what was the matter with his beautiful hostess. 
She had no work to do, she was evidently tired of play, 
she was not, he felt sure, in love with her husband, and 
she was in exactly the right condition of mind for fall- 
ing in love with somebody else. He had, however, no 
personal inclination to play the part of that possible 
somebody. His personal inclinations and ambitions 
were, for the time being, of quite another order, and 
they would scarcely be served by too assiduous atten- 
tions to Lionel Mallet’s wife. After dinner, when his 
friend came and sat down beside him, he said what was 
at once appreciative and discreet respecting Marietta. 
Something he perceived that he was expected to say on 
the occasion of his first introduction to a lady so uni- 
versally admired, and he contrived to say the right thing, 
being a man who seldom failed to say the right thing 
when it was worth his while to do so. 

The unlucky circumstance that he did not know one 
note from another, and that music was a rather dis- 
agreeable noise to him, did not deter him from warmly 
complimenting his hostess upon her rendering of an 
operatic solo later in the evening; but he knew better 
than to effect intimate acquaintance with an art which 
was a sealed book to him. 

I am an ignoramus,” he confessed; all I know is 
that you sing like nobody whom I have ever heard be- 
fore. Is it a delusion, or has your voice some very 
unusual quality? ” 


ROLAND STRAHAN. 


105 


She coloured with pleasure, for he had accidentally 
hit upon the one form of flattery which she loved and 
coveted. I believe it is a rather odd sort of voice in 
some ways,” she answered; “ once upon a time I used 
to be told that there was a fortune in it. But that is 
of no consequence now.” 

“ And you sigh because your fortune is made! May 
I be permitted to sigh with you because mine is still 
to make? ” 

Certainly not. Didn’t I tell you, and didn’t you 
agree with me, that what we all want is excitement, 
and what we all hate is dull prosperity? ” 

I didn’t remember that we put the case quite so 
deflnitely and concisely as that; but I won’t deny that 
excitement has charms. Nevertheless, I should like to 
feel a little more sure than I do at present that I haven’t 
come to England upon a fool’s errand.” 

“ You will succeed,” said Marietta, with conviction. 

What is it that you want ? ” 

Oh, a good deal. Money, credit, sundry political 
concessions. It will take time; all these things are not 
to be obtained from one moment to another.” 

“ I am glad of that,” said Marietta, graciously; “ for 
I suppose you mean that you will have to remain some 
months in this country.” 

He took her hand to wish her good-night, and 
thanked her for this kindly intimation of a desire on 
her part that he should prolong his stay. There was 
— or she fancied there was — a peculiar look of sym- 
pathy in his grey eyes as they met hers. 

“ I hope you will come and see me again, when you 
are not too busy,” she said. 

He answered, laughing, that she would probably 
see only too much of him. I can’t afford to neglect 
my powerful friends, and Mallet is already a power, 
you know.” 

But when the company had dispersed, and her hus- 
band asked her how she liked Strahan, she replied 
indifferently, Oh, I don’t know. Pretty well, I 


106 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


think; but he is not handsome, and his coat fitted rather 
badly/^ 


CHAPTER XII. 

AUSTRALIA ADVANCES. 

Marietta's criticism upon the cut of Mr. Strahan’s 
coat may very likely have been warranted, for he was 
too busy a man and had too many things to think about 
to devote much attention to the adornment of his per- 
son; but when she stated that he was not, in her opin- 
ion, handsome, she was — for some reason probably un- 
known to herself — a trifie disingenuous. In reality she 
had conceived a great admiration for the square, clean- 
shaven face which many another woman had admired 
before her, and which, if it had not the undeniable 
beauty possessed, for instance, by LioneTs, was never- 
theless as superior to the ordinary, well-l3red Anglo- 
Saxon countenances which had of late surrounded her 
as its suggestion of strength and bright intelligence 
coidd make it. 

Many woman had admired Roland Strahan, but it 
cannot be said that he had admired, save after a passing, 
slightly jlisdainful fashion, many women; possibly that 
was why he had been made the recipient of favours 
which he had scarcely been at the pains to seek. A 
lone man, with no near relatives nor any softening 
reminiscences of childhood, he was singularly inde- 
pendent of sympathy. Life to him presented itself, 
and always had presented itself, in the light of a pro- 
longed struggle, the prizes of which were reserved for 
those who concentrated their whole powers upon the 
business in hand. The love of women, so far as he 
understood what that meant, he classed among the 
minor luxuries of existence — a thing to enjoy at leisure 


AUSTRALIA ADVANCES. 


lOY 

moments, when there were any leisure moments, hut 
certainly not worth all the fuss made about it by poets 
and romancers. There had been amatory episodes in 
his past career; hut they had been dismissed from his 
memory as scarcely more important than bygone din- 
ners or cast-off clothes; at the bottom of his heart he 
had a profound contempt for women, although he was 
too shrewd to ignore the power which is conferred upon 
them by the weakness of men, and which renders it 
occasionally advisable that they should he conciliated. 
It might he advisable, he thought, to conciliate Mrs. 
Mallet; hut he did not hurry himself about calling 
upon her, having affairs of more pressing consequence 
to occupy him. 

It was after a morning spent in the fairly successful 
prosecution of those affairs that he dropped in to lunch 
at a club which he had joined while still at the Univer- 
sity, and which, as it chanced, was daily patronised at 
that hour by his former fellow-student St. Quintin. The 
two men, meeting in the doorway, recognised and greeted 
one another with just so much show of cordiality as the • 
occasion made unavoidable. Friends they were not, 
nor ever had been; still, since there was no acknowledged 
breach between them, and since they possessed at least 
one intimate friend in common, neither could very well 
help telling the other that he was glad to see him. 
On Strahan’s side, indeed, the assertion had the in- 
cidental advantage of being true; for it occurred to him 
that he might obtain information from St. Quintin upon 
one or two points of interest. He therefore proposed 
that they should share a table and have a talk about 
old times.’^ 

However, it was not about old times that he pro- 
ceeded to talk when his cutlet and his pint of claret 
had been brought to him — that subject being, on sev- 
eral accounts, best left alone. 

I was dining with Mallet the other night,’^ he 
began. “ Somebody told me he had made a rather fool- 
ish marriage; but really, after seeing Mrs. Mallet, I find 
8 


108 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


myself unable to admit that. It can’t be foolish on the 
part of a man who can afford to please himself to make 
such a splendid selection. And her beauty is quite 
splendid, don’t you think so ? ” 

Yes, there is no exaggeration in calling her beau- 
tiful,” answered St. Quintin, a little curtly. 

In spite of which, you think he was a fool to marry 
her, eh? ” 

I didn’t say so.” 

Mo, but you refrained from asserting the contrary, 
which you would certainly have done if your conscience 
had allowed you, for I remember what a staunch friend 
you always were to Mallet. Is there anything against 
her? She struck me as being a lady by birth.” 

There is nothing against her that I know of,” 
answered St. Quintin, and I am sure that it would 
gratify her very much to hear that you consider her 
a lady.” 

Strahan laughed. I apologise,” said he; I was 
only wondering what your objections to her could be. 

• Who was she?” 

She was a Miss Yigne. Her father is a retired 
Colonel in the Austrian army, and her mother was a 
member of the Magliacci family, I believe. That is 
all I can tell you. Are you staying any time in Lon- 
don?” 

That will have to depend upon all manner of un- 
certainties; it is business, not pleasure, that has brought 
me all the way from Australia. So she is related to the 
Magliacci, is she? — a fine old family. They were will- 
ing enough to consent to the match, of course? ” 

I don’t think their consent was asked. Colonel 
Vigne gave us to understand that he was not upon 
speaking terms with his wife’s family, and that they 
had never recognised him as belonging to them. I 
hope your curiosity is satisfied now.” 

‘^Not at all; it is rather stimulated. It isn’t such 
an impertinent curiosity as you imply, though; one 
has surely the right to make some innocent inquiries 


AUSTRALIA ADVANCES. 


109 


about the wife of an old friend. Besides, I frankly 
confess that I always endeavour to find out who people 
are; knowledge of that sort may turn out useful at 
any moment, or the absence of it very inconvenient. 
Wasn’t it somewhere in Italy that you and Mallet came 
across this wandering Colonel and his daughter? ” 

You seem to know all that there is to know,” an- 
swered St. Quintin. “ As for my objecting to Mrs. 
Mallet, I only doubted, as I suppose most men in my 
place would have doubted, whether Lord Middlewood 
would consider her his son’s equal, and whether I was 
not likely to be blamed for allowing Lionel to engage 
himself in such haste.” 

Well, you couldn’t help that, I presume.” 

I couldn’t help it; but I felt as if I had been to 
some extent placed in charge for the time being. That 
is an old story now; the marriage has taken place, with 
Lord Middlewood’s approval; it appears to be a happy 
one, and even if it were not, that would be no business 
of mine — nor of yours, if you will excuse my saying 
so.” 

It isn’t too polite of you to say so,” answered 
Strahan good-humouredly; but I’ll excuse you, in 
consideration of the fact that you evidently find it as 
difficult as ever to treat me with politeness. As a mat- 
ter of curiosity — more impertinent curiosity, you see! 
— why do you so heartily dislike a man who has never 
done you an injury, and who has a perfectly sincere 
liking and respect for you ? ” 

St. Quintin was not mollified: there was a terrible 
honesty and straightforwardness about him which no 
cajolery could vanquish. 

Since you ask me,” he replied, I haven’t forgot- 
ten that you did your best to drag Mallet into what 
might have proved a very nasty affair for him.” 

About poor Maggie Field’s suicide, do you mean ? 
My dear fellow, it was I who was dragged into that 
affair, and if I mentioned Mallet’s name, it was only 
to show that I was as innocent as he. Many people, I 


110 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


suspect, would tell you that I was even more innocent 
than he.” 

Many people tell lies.” 

Strahan drew his brows together and for a moment 
looked really angry; hut he had his temper well under 
control, and he did not wish to quarrel with St. Quin- 
tin, who might easily be of service to him, or the con- 
trary. 

Well,” he said, we won’t discuss a business which 
everybody who was concerned in it must be anxious to 
forget. Luckily for Mallet and for me, the culprit took 
to his heels in time to exculpate us both. I’m sorry 
— or rather, on second thoughts, I’m glad — ^that you 
can give no better reason than that for your hostility.” 

St. Quintin could have given other reasons — possibly 
even better ones; but he refrained, and responded only 
with a grunt. Shortly afterwards Strahan glanced at 
his watch and jumped up, turning round to ask, as he 
moved away, “ Shall I meet you at Lady Helen Sitwell’s 
squash this evening? ” 

St. Quintin had not been invited to that entertain- 
ment; but he took note of the circumstance that 
Strahan had, and he said to himself: ‘^What cheek 
the fellow has! I shouldn’t wonder if he were to bring 
off his big robbery, whatever it may be; but I do trust 
he won’t manage to involve Lionel in it.” 

Nothing would have persuaded St. Quintin that 
Strahan was not a rascal; but in truth the latter con- 
templated no robbery. He had, on the contrary, much 
confidence in the future of the company which he had 
been commissioned to fioat, and of which the secretary- 
ship had been promised to him. If he was desirous of 
including Lionel Mallet’s name in the directorate, that 
was merely because he had been advised that such a 
name might be worth securing, and because he did not 
yet know quite as many magnates as he hoped to know 
ere long. Meanwhile, it was characteristic of him to 
seek out a certain impoverished Italian violinist of his 
acquaintance and invite that hungry man to dine at 


AUSTRALIA ADVANCES. 


Ill 


a restaurant at Soho, where Southern dishes and South- 
ern wines were to he obtained. It was a theory and 
principle of Strahan^s that details should never he neg- 
lected, and he thought he might as well find out, if he 
could, all that there was to be found out respecting 
Mrs. Mallet’s parentage — knowledge of that sort, as he 
had candidly confessed to St. Quintin, being often of 
value. So the ex-Garihaldian and veteran conspirator 
upon whom his hospitality was bestowed was inter- 
rogated, and was, as it chanced, able to furnish par- 
ticulars relating to Marietta’s mother and her breach 
with her family, which were by no means devoid of in- 
terest to the inquirer. 

It is an ancient history,” the soured, gray-bearded 
Eepuhlican said, which has been forgotten long ago. It 
made some stir at the time, I remember, because the 
Magliacci were great people in those days; hut I do 
not know why they should contrive to hear malice 
against their white coat now that they are little people, 
and that the Italy for which we shed our blood has 
become a bankrupt monarchy, clinging to the skirts 
of her former oppressors. For my part, I would as 
soon be an Austrian as a Magliacci, and I would rather 
be an Englishman than either. You had better not 
recommend this young lady to make advances to her 
mother’s family. They would be capable of pardoning 
everything, meeting her half-way, and borrowing money 
from her husband.” 

Oh, I don’t know that she is ambitious of culti- 
vating them,” answered Strahan. Probably she is 
quite satisfied with the family into which she has mar- 
ried; and indeed she would be hard to please if she 
were not.” 

He made a mental note of what he had heard — his 
mental note-hook was both copious and heterogeneous — 
took leave of his informant, and at a later hour had 
himself driven to Grosvenor-square, where the Colonial 
Secretary resided. By the he-diamonded lady who stood 
at the top of the broad staircase, receiving a dense 


112 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


throng of heated guests, he was accorded one of those 
vague greetings which are the portion of the unknown; 
but Mr. Sitwell, new to office, full of energy, and a 
shrewd judge of men, had a friendly word or two for 
the clever young Australian to whom he had already 
granted more than one interview. 

^^Well, Mr. Strahan, I saw your Agent-General to- 
day, and he was loud in your praises. The colony is 
to be congratulated upon counting you amongst its ris- 
ing public men.^^ 

Strahan replied, with becoming modesty, that he 
could not yet venture to style himself a public man; 
but the Secretary of State clapped him good-naturedly 
on the shoulder and returned — 

Oh, you will be a public man as soon as you choose. 
And you are quite right to begin your career by coming 
over here and acquainting yourself with our habits and 
methods of procedure; children ought to know their 
mother. Now, is there anybody here this evening to 
whom you would like to be introduced? ” 

Mr. Sitwell had earned considerable popularity by a 
bonhomie which did not seriously commit him. His as- 
sumption that his present interlocutor was an Aus- 
tralian born was not corrected — for Strahan divined 
that he did not love correction — and his offer of an 
introduction to certain distinguished colleagues of his 
was gratefully accepted. There are people who move 
heaven and earth in vain every year to obtain a foot- 
hold in circles which cannot, after all, be called very 
exclusive, while there are others who step into them 
without the slightest apparent effort. The latter are 
considered lucky fellows, and it may be that Strahan’s 
luck was good. But perhaps he was right in ascribing 
the rapid advantages which he was making to his own 
determination and capacity. 

However that may have been, he was feeling very 
well pleased with himself and with the world at large 
by the time that he caught sight of Mrs. Mallet advanc- 
ing slowly towards him through the crowd, and the fact 


AUSTRALIA ADVANCES, 


113 


of his being in so good a humour helped him, no doubt, 
to pay her the homage which he might otherwise have 
neglected. It was, of course, an unspoken homage; but 
not the less on that account was it discernible in his 
eyes and the inflection of his voice; so that she easily 
recognised and was gratified by it. She was looldng 
magnificent, as indeed she always did when in evening 
costume; she wore the famous Middlewood sapphires 
and diamonds which had been handed over to her by 
her widowed father-in-law; it had to be admitted that 
Mallet was an enviable man, even if his marriage had 
been in some respects an absurd and imprudent one. 

“ Why have you not been to see us all this time ? 
Marietta asked. You told me that you meant to be 
perpetually in the house.’^ 

I am a truthful man, Mrs. Malle answered 
Strahan, smiling; I haven’t called upon you because 
I haven’t had time. With me business has to come first 
and pleasure afterwards. But if you will tell me at 
what hour of the day your husband is generally to be 
found at home I may combine the two in the visit to 
Arlington-street which I am going to pay as soon as I 
possibly can. Is he here this evening?” 

I don’t think so. He was to meet me here on his 
way from the House and take me home, but I suppose 
he has been detained. Most likely he has gone straight 
back; for I said I should not wait for him, and he hates 
squashes. Do you like them? ” 

Well, not for their own sake; but on other grounds 
I am grateful for having been admitted to this one. 
You must remember that I am a nobody, who wants to 
become a sort of a somebody; so that it is well worth 
my while to be vouched for by Lady Helen Sitwell.” 

It would have sounded rather more flattering if he 
had said that he deemed it well worth his while to have 
secured this opportunity of encountering Mrs. Mallet; 
but speeches of that nature had latterly lost a good 
deal of their savour for Marietta by reason of constant 
repetition. What did flatter her was a certain subtle 


114 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


suggestion that she was being taken into Mr. Strahan’s 
confidence, which, supplemented by the language of 
the eyes above alluded to, led her to prolong a conversa- 
tion which several distinguished acquaintances of hers 
had already made attempts to interrupt. 

“ How impossible it is to talk with any comfort while 
one is being jostled and deafened like this! ” she ex- 
claimed impatiently at length. Will you not escort 
me home, if you have nothing better to do, and smoke 
a cigar with Lionel, who is sure to be in his den, study- 
ing the Racing Calendar, by this hour of the night? ” 

He consented willingly; for, in the first place, he 
was anxious to see Mallet, and in the second, he thought 
it would be pleasant enough to pursue the intimacy 
which Marietta seemed to be offering him. These, 
accurately stated, were the sentiments which he scarce- 
ly took the trouble to disguise, and if he had contem- 
plated laying siege to Mrs. Mallet’s heart (but he had 
no such ambition), he could scarcely have drawn his 
first parallels with greater skill. Presently, when he 
was seated beside her in her brougham, he remembered 
to ask why she had not delighted Lady Helen Sitwell’s 
guests by singing to them. 

It was not a musical party,” she answered, with 
a touch of displeasure, and I don’t sing wherever I go. 
Do you think I hire myself out for the evening, like 
a Hungarian band? ” 

No; but I think you must enjoy doing what you 
are able to do so admirably. I fancy that what you 
call ^ squashes ’ are only tolerable to you, as they are 
to me, for the sake of the opportunities that they give.” 

They give you opportunities of gaining something 
that is really important, perhaps; it isn’t in the least 
important to have a finer voice and to have been better 
taught than the other women whom I meet. I used 
to think that it was, and of course it would have been, 
if I had been differently situated; but now I don’t care. 
I should be applauded just the same if I had no voice 
at all.” 


AUSTRALIA ADVANCES. 


115 


that is just what I ventured to tell you the 
other day; you are in the unhappy position of having 
nothing left to wish for.” 

“ Nothing that I shall get, at all events,” she re- 
turned with a sigh. 

“ I offer you my respectful congratulations upon 
having still a few unsatisfied desires. Though I cannot 
imagine what they can he.” 

Marietta did not enlighten him; probably it was not 
in her power to do so. But in the course of the short 
drive she elicited from him the admission that his own 
unsatisfied desires were not absolutely limited to acquir- 
ing a large fortune and becoming a Colonial Premier. 

However, that is about all that I permit myself to 
hope for when I see the new moon or a piebald horse,” 
he remarked, laughing, as he followed her into the 
brightly lighted hall in Arlington-street. “ Romance is 
not for the likes of me; I can’t afford it.” 

Yet there was something rather romantic about him; 
something that attracted and fascinated her; something 
that gave him a distinction which she could not discern 
in Lionel, who was so much more distinguished looking. 
She sat for a while in the smoking-room, watching and 
listening to the two men (for, as she had anticipated, 
her husband had held himself excused by the lateness 
of the hour from putting in an appearance in Grosvenor- 
square), and she could not hut perceive that one of them 
was extraordinary, while the other was ordinary. Lionel 
gave utterance to an affectionate protest when she rose 
to say good-night; hut Strahan jumped up with alacrity 
and made ready to hold the door open for her. Such be- 
haviour on the part of a stranger to whom she had gone 
out of her way to he particularly amiable, was, to say the 
least of it, extraordinary; what rendered it fascinat- 
ing was that it was so obviously prompted by no affecta- 
tion or ulterior motive. Strahan wanted to confer 
with her husband, and was consequently anxious to get 
her out of the room; nothing could he at once more 
unusual or more natural. Nor, for the matter of that. 


116 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


could anything he more natural than that she should 
then and there determine to change his point of view 
for him sooner or later. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

DISCONTENT. 

Makietta had expected her husband to give some 
account of his colloquy with the distinguished young 
Australian; but he did not allude to it, and at break- 
fast, the next morning, she was impelled by curiosity 
to ask: What was Mr. Strahan so eager to say to you 
last night that he couldn’t conceal his joy when I went 
to bed?” 

Lionel looked up from the newspaper which he was 
perusing. Strahan? Oh, he was full of his colony 
— which is a rising colony, I believe — and of a com- 
pany which, it seems, is being formed to work the gold 
mines and develop the other natural resources of a 
thinly peopled district. He wanted me to take shares 
in it, and become a director.” 

Did you consent? ” 

Oh, not all in a hurry, like that; one will have 
to make a few inquiries. Strahan is an uncommonly 
clever fellow, and I presume he knows what he is about; 
hut ” 

I thought you had such a high opinion of Mr. 
Strahan,” interrupted Marietta impatiently. 

I have the highest opinion of his intelligence and 
capacity, and I can’t see that there is much fault to he 
found with the fit of his clothes, to which you objected 
the other day.” 

Then why do you speak with the voice of Mr. 
St. Quintin? You sound as if you disliked and dis- 
trusted him.” 


DISCONTENT. 


117 


“My dear Marietta, what on earth do yon mean? 
He is an old friend of mine, and if I can give him a 
helping hand in any way, I certainly will. All the same, 
I am not quite prepared to give a blank cheque to him 
or anybody else.’^ 

Marietta jerked up her shoulders and drew down the 
corners of her mouth. “How English you are!” she 
exclaimed. “ It seems to me that if I could not trust 
a blank cheque to a friend, I should have no right to 
call him my friend.” 

Evidently she was in one of her unaccountable, irri- 
table moods, and Lionel, perceiving this, returned good- 
humouredly to the study of his leading article. 

Presently he looked up to remark, “ I’m in a horrible 
funk. To-night, if you remember, I am to address the 
House for the first time.” 

“ Is that so alarming? ” asked Marietta, with a 
yawn. 

“ I can’t give you the least idea of how alarming it 
is; nothing else in the world that I can think of is 
quite like it. I don’t suppose I shall literally break 
down; but the chances are in favour of my making a 
fool of myself. Will you be there to see? ” 

“ Oh, yes; that’s all arranged, is it not? But I 
don’t think you will make a fool of yourself. You are 
too ” 

“ Too what? ” 

“ Too cool and sensible, and too sure of yourself in 
any emergency.” 

“Am I to take that as a compliment or the re- 
verse ? ” asked Lionel, smiling. 

She got up, without replying, stood for a moment 
at the window, looking out upon the park, and then 
left the room. She was conscious of being cross, petu- 
lant and unreasonable; but she could not help herself. 
Of all provoking people the most provoking is one who 
declines absolutely to be provoked, and she sometimes 
thought that if Lionel had had any real affection for 
her, he would resent her fits of causeless bad temper. 


118 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


She wanted him to make a successful speech; hut how 
was it possible to feel any excitement upon the sub- 
ject? He was sure to be successful, and she did not be- 
lieve for one moment in his alleged nervousness. 

But in the evening, when she sat looking down upon 
him and his fellow legislators, who had assembled in 
large numbers, a different view of the ordeal which he 
was about to undergo forced itself upon her. To her 
sense those clorsely packed benches had a cold and un- 
friendly aspect; she perceived, all of a sudden, the dif- 
ficulty of winning applause from an audience so indif- 
ferent, so somnolent and so evidently bent upon voting 
one way or the other, without regard to individual elo- 
quence or argument; she almost wished that Lionel 
were not going to speak, although in the depths of her 
heart there lurked a hope that she might be destined to 
assist at a triumph won under adverse and depress- 
ing circumstances. Such a triumph would have pro- 
vided her with what, in truth, she wanted — a reason for 
admiring her husband and associating herself with am- 
bitions which had as yet failed to enlist her sympathy. 

But, although the' agricultural question is one of 
much importance, and although the House was greatly 
interested in a measure which might not improbably 
decide the fate of the existing administration, it does 
not precisely lend itself to purposes of fervid oratory, 
and a bill designed for the relief of farmers and land- 
owners was, at the time of Marietta’s arrival, being 
somewhat languidly advocated by a supporter of the 
minister in charge thereof. His remarks elicited a 
rather sharp and telling retort from the opposition; after 
which the debate warmed up a little, and speeches on 
both sides became shorter and brighter. What it was all 
about Marietta could but dimly surmise; she was already 
beginning to yawn behind her hand when at length 
Lionel arose, holding a sheaf of documents, to speak 
on behalf of the bill. 

His opening observations, which were delivered in 
a clear, steady voice, were received with the attention 


DISCONTENT. 


119 


which is commonly accorded to neophytes, and present- 
ly the tribute of a slight cheer was paid to one of his 
statements. He was thoroughly well up in his subject, 
and said what he had to say in a simple, straightforward 
style which did not fail to secure for him the approval 
of his friends. But the most partial of those who sat 
near him could not have asserted that he was brilliant. 
After a time, when he waxed a shade more controversial 
in his tone, he had to face one or two interruptions from 
the other side of the House, with which he showed him- 
self competent to deal. He kept cool, proved his case, 
so far as it was capable of being proved, and by the time 
that he resumed his seat had produced a decidedly 
favourable impression. There was, however, no visible 
and palpable triumph, no prolonged cheering, no evi- 
dence of the rising of a new Parliamentary star, and 
Marietta quitted the ladies’ gallery with a disappointed 
shrug of her shoulders. After all, the result had been 
pretty much what she had anticipated — a sort of succes 
d^estime, obtained by one who was himself a large land- 
owner and who had supported the landed interest in 
calm, dispassionate, gentlemanlike language. She was 
vexed with herself for having been momentarily excited 
and apprehensive over so tame an affair. 

While waiting for her carriage she was accosted by 
St. Quintin, who offered warm congratulations, the 
meaning of which she begged him to explain. 

“Didn’t you hear Lionel’s speech?” he asked. 
“ Didn’t you think it capital? ” 

“ I heard it,” she answered. “ If you say it was capi- 
tal, I suppose it was; but it was not very — amusing, 
was it? ” 

“ Of course it wasn’t meant to be that; but it was 
very well put and very much to the point. You will see 
that the papers will report it in full to-morrow.” 

“Yes?” said Marietta indifferently. And then: 
“Do you know whether he is coming out? I have to 
show myself at one or two places, and I can take him 


120 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


St. Quintin could not say, but thought it unlikely 
that Lionel would leave before the adjournment of the 
debate. “ Shall I find out for you ? ” he asked. 

“ Oh, no, thank you; upon second thoughts, I would 
rather not see him until I have got rid of the memory 
of that heavy harangue. How thankful one ought to 
be that one is not a man and a member of Parliament! ’’ 

She was not feeling particularly thankful for that or 
any other of the numerous blessings that she enjoyed, 
nor had she much inclination to attend a gathering at 
one of the embassies, to which she had been invited. 
Nevertheless, she had herself driven thither. It would 
be a bore, she thought, and she would meet nobody 
whom she cared to meet; still it would perhaps be a 
little bit less dull than sitting alone at home. Being 
badly in want of a grievance, it occurred to her to resent 
Lionel’s frequent and prolonged absences. That en- 
abled her to bring a mental charge of selfishness against 
him and supplied her with the desired excuse for being 
displeased with him. 

Almost the first person whom she saw, on reaching 
her destination, was Mr. Strahan. Really the man 
seemed to be ubiquitous, and he proceeded to give fur- 
ther evidence to that effect by announcing that he had 
just come from the House of .Commons. 

So have I,” said Marietta. “ I hope Lionel enter- 
tained you more than he did me.” 

Strahan laughed. Oh, he spoke very well; it was 
a good, solid, sensible sort of speech. He is a good, 
solid, sensible sort of person, you know — as befits his 
rank and fortune.” 

If this was a slightly impertinent remark to make 
to Lionel’s wife, she overlooked that, in consideration 
of its being so completely in accord with her own 
view. 

Do you like people who are chiefly remarkable for 
their common sense? ” she asked. 

^‘1 simply adore them — I’m a martyr to them! It 
is common sense that makes the world go round, and 


DISCONTENT. 


121 


the world would go round much more smoothly if every- 
body possessed that invaluable quality. Just now my 
greatest anxiety is to meet sensible men, and I don’t 
meet as many as you might suppose. Consequently, 
when I do come across one, I am ready to fall at his 
feet.” 

“ Even when he displays common sense by refusing 
to take the shares that you offer him? ” 

Ah, that wouldn’t show common sense; that would 
only show a prejudiced mind. On the other hand, it 
is entirely sensible to say that you will think it over and 
make inquiries. Your good husband will think it over 
and make inquiries — and take his place on our di- 
rectorate. C’est moi qui vous en- reponds ! ” 

Again there was a suggestion of impertinence in his 
tone, and again she forgave him. How was he to help 
recognising Lionel’s limitations? Their eyes met for 
a moment, and he laughed. 

“What are you laughing at?” she asked rather 
sharply. 

“ Oh, not at you, Mrs. Mallet. How could you think 
such a thing of me?” 

“ I didn’t think it. You seemed to he laughing at 
my husband.” 

“ Heaven forbid! If one didn’t take one’s future 
directors seriously, where would one be ? Besides, I take 
most men seriously. Most men are serious.” 

“ And women ? ” 

“ Well, that depends upon their wishes. They don’t, 
as a rule, wish all the things that they say and imply 
to be accepted quite literally, I imagine.” 

This time, at any rate. Marietta could not doubt 
that the man meant to be impertinent, and she was 
about to snub him to the best of her ability (though 
her ability in that direction was not very marked) when 
somebody accosted her and put an end to the conversa- 
tion. 

But about a quarter of an hour later chance brought 
her once more into contact with Mr. Strahan. His 


122 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


back was turned towards her, and he was talking to 
Lady Gosport — did he know everybody, then? — who ap- 
peared to find him an agreeable companion. 

Why should you return to that outlandish place? ” 
Marietta heard her say. I wouldn’t, if I were you. 
Can’t you stay in London and grow rich, while other 
people grub up gold for you? ” 

That would be ideal,” answered Strahan, but 
unfortunately, the people who grub up gold have a 
nasty habit of putting it into their pockets, unless one 
is upon the spot to watch what they are about. I am 
afraid my native land will have to do without me for 
a time.” 

“ Well, you will turn up again the day after to-mor- 
row, no doubt, with a fortune of a million or two, and 
begin to patronise us all. What marvellous people you 
South Africans are! I wish you would put me on to 
a good thing — only it must be really safe; because I 
can’t afford to lose money, you know.” 

Strahan explained that the colony in the prosperity 
of which he had a small stake was situated a very long 
way from South Africa, and that it did not as yet count 
any millionaires amongst its citizens. 

Oh, but it soon will,” Lady Gosport declared con- 
fidently; you have gold mines up your sleeve.” 

She turned to Marietta, of whose vicinity she be- 
came aware, and asked, “ Isn’t it the case that Mr. 
Strahan has gold mines up his sleeve?” 

‘‘T don’t know anything about it,” Marietta an- 
swered coldly. 

Lady Gosport moved away to greet an acquaintance, 
and Strahan smilingly inquired, ‘^What is the matter 
now ? ” 

You are insupportable! ” exclaimed Marietta, her 
dignity yielding to her irritation; you talk to me as if 
I were a naughty child, and — and as if you knew me 
well enough to have the right to assume that tone.” 

He apologised in the humblest terms; although his 
looks expressed somewhat less humility than his words. 


DISCONTENT. 


123 


I ought to be ashamed of myself for taking such liber- 
ties,” he confessed, “ and I will try not to offend in that 
way again. But I am only a rough Australian colonist 
you must remember. I am apt to say what comes into 
my mind, and I can’t help feeling as if I did know you 
rather well — as if we were friends, or going to be 
friends.” 

“ Friends,” returned Marietta, slightly mollified, 
don’t say rude things to one another.” 

Don’t they? I thought they sometimes did. 
Would it be rude of me, supposing I had the happiness 
of being your friend, to advise you not to he so discon- 
tented? That, I believe, is what I have been clumsily 
attempting to do, and that, I am afraid, is how I have 
managed to affront you. Yet it is the best of good ad- 
vice; for there is no greater mistake in the world than 
being discontented.” 

His voice had taken a softer tone, and some subtle 
intuition told her that for the first time she had begun 
to enlist his genuine interest and sympathy. As this 
was what she had inwardly vowed to accomplish, her 
equanimity returned to her. 

And if one cannot help it? ” said she. 

Ah! then one is face to face with a had job. Only 
it is as well to make quite sure that the thing can’t he 

helped; because ” He broke off, and resumed 

briskly, But this is really absurd! Is one discon- 
tented when one is what you are and possesses what 
you possess? Do you know what I should do if I were 
in your place? ” 

She shook her head. 

I should — now, don’t he angry, please, for I am 
speaking in deadly earnest, and I have your welfare at 
heart — I should take a couple of hours’ exercise every 
day on a rough-paced horse, and I should endeavour 
to cultivate a philosophic frame of mind. What is the 
use of quarrelling with people and things for not being 
what they can’t possibly be? ” 

At breakfast the next morning Marietta casually 
9 


124 


MAEIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


informed her husband that she had met his friend, Mr. 
Strahan, again the night before, and that decidedly 
she did not like the man. 

He is clever, of course; hut he gives me the im- 
pression of being hard and selfish and unscrupulous. 
1 hope you will have nothing to do with his schemes.^^ 

Yet you rebuked me yesterday for hesitating to 
give him a blank cheque,” Lionel remarked. 

That was twenty-four hours ago.” 

Well,” said Lionel laughing, twenty-four hours 
do sometimes make a considerable difference, I admit. 
For instance, I am several inches taller than I was this 
time yesterday, though you don’t seem to have noticed 
it, and though you do consider me a dull orator.” 

It was a fact that his political reputation had become 
greatly enhanced by his speech and by the comments of 
the newspapers upon it. He had been congratulated at 
the time by the leader of the House; he was likely in 
the course of the day to receive many more congratula- 
tions, and if domestic applause was denied to him, he 
was too modest and too good-humoured to grumble 
at that. 

I don’t wonder at your having been bored,” he 
said; ^^the subject must he a desperately dry one to 
people who aren’t interested in it.” 

A sudden wave of compunction came over Marietta 
and caused her to lay her slim fingers gently upon her 
husband’s shoulders. 

I ought to he interested in what interests you,” 
she returned; I am going to try. It is such a pity that 
I can’t care for politics or race-horses for their own 
sake! But I do take an interest in human beings, and 
I think perhaps I understand them in some ways a little 
better than you do. So that, if you would listen to me, 
I might sometimes he of use to you. I want to warn 
you against Mr. Strahan.” 

Lionel laughed. What has the poor fellow been 
doing? ” But his curiosity upon the point did not 
appear to he keen. Anyhow,” he remarked, I dare 


DISCONTENT. 


125 


say I am old enough to take care of myself. Don’t 
bother your head about me — or my politics or my racing 
either. Though, if it comes to that, they are both of 
them interesting pursuits.” 

She drew hack, disappointed. Very likely they 
are,” she answered; “ but they haven’t it in them to sat- 
isfy me, unfortunately. I am what I am, not what I 
should choose to be. I can’t explain myself, and — and 
nobody seems to understand! ” 

Ah, that eternal feminine complaint with which the 
average man finds it so difficult to have patience! 
Strahan had recommended horse-exercise (and had been 
very nearly recommending antibilious pills); Lionel 
looked gently tolerant and said nothing. From him, 
at all events, it was plain that comprehension of a com- 
plex temperament was not to be looked for. 

They sat silent for a minute or two, his eyes stray- 
ing back to the Times, which he had laid down beside 
his plate, and Marietta was about to relieve him of the 
burden of her society when a note was brought to her 
which she opened and read. 

^Tapa has arrived,” she announced. “ He writes 
from an hotel in Covent Garden — what a funny neigh- 
bourhood to have chosen! — to ask whether it will be 
convenient for me to see him if he calls this afternoon.” 

Tell him,” answered Lionel, that if he doesn’t 
immediately transport himself and his traps from 
Covent Garden to this house, il aura affaire a moi ! I’m 
awfully glad he has come. What with one thing and 
another, I can’t be much at home just now, and I’m 
sure you want a companion.” 

Marietta also was glad. If she was fond of anybody, 
she was fond of her father, and perhaps if ther6 was 
anybody who understood her, it was he. She was not 
certain that he did — in some respects, indeed, she was 
certain that he did not; yet there had been moments 
of sympathy between them, moments when she had 
felt that he knew more about her than he cared to ex- 
press verbally, and at least she could count upon him 


126 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


to act as her protector, in case of need. What proba- 
bility was there of her needing any other protection 
than that of the honourable gentleman whose name 
she bore. That she did not ask herself; but the mes- 
senger from Covent Garden took back with him a sum- 
mons which in affectionate urgency left nothing to be 
desired. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

THE colonel’s REMEDY. 

In the course of the afternoon Colonel Vigne duly 
presented himself, looking very spruce and military in 
the tightly-fitting clothes with which a Vienna tailor 
had supplied him, and paternal pride, as well as a sus- 
picion of moisture, could be discerned in the eyes that 
fondly contemplated his beautiful daughter. But he 
brought no luggage with him, nor could he be persuaded 
to take advantage of the hospitality pressed upon him 
by Marietta in her husband’s name and her own. 

No, no! ” he said, shaking his head and his uplifted 
forefinger, with a wise smile. “ I want to remain near 
you for a time, and in order to do that, I must be free. 
I should never be able to feel comfortable if I suspected 
myself of being a troublesome old father-in-law.” 

It would be impossible for you to be a trouble to 
Lionel,” Marietta declared, ‘‘ for you would scarcely see 
Lim. He is out all day, and almost all night.” 

Ah, well! but I shall be more at ease in Covent 
Garden. Lionel is busy with public affairs, no doubt; 
it is an excellent thing for him that he should be busied 
in that way. And he is the best of husbands — is it not 
so?” 

The look of subdued anxiety which accompanied 
this query was not lost upon Marietta, who made haste 


THE COLONEL’S REMEDY. 


127 


to reply, Oh, yes, yon need not be alarmed, he is very 
kind. And very patient,” she added, after a short 
pause. 

Patient? It is required of him to be patient, 
then? ” 

“ How can you ask? Who should know, if you don^t, 
that patience is required of everybody who lives with 
me? To the end of my days I shall be sighing for some- 
thing that I havenT got, and make the despair of those 
who have given me all they have it in their power to 
bestow.” 

Marietta mia, that is a deplorable disposition! ” 

Yes, and I deplore it. But what would you have? 
one is what one is. For the rest, I am sure Lionel will 
tell you that I am perfect. Perhaps he even thinks so; 
for he is thoroughly pleased with his life and everything 
that belongs to it.” 

She was easily induced to mention some of her own 
reasons for being less thoroughly pleased. They were 
not very convincing reasons, and amounted, upon the 
whole, to little more than a confession that she was 
idle and bored; but the fact of making that confession 
gave her relief, and her father’s puzzled, sympathetic 
old face acted as an anodyne to her irritated nerves. 
He did not quite clearly gather what her grievance was, 
yet in a measure he did understand; for he remembered 
her mother, who had given him some hours of sadness 
and perplexity in years gone by. Therefore he refrained 
from rebukes or the offer of good advice, and had re- 
course to methods which he had found efficacious long 
ago. He was by temperament a merry old gentleman; 
he could tell a capital story, and his winter in the 
Kaiserstadt had furnished him with an ample stock of 
these, which he proceeded to relate, with appropriate 
gesticulation, for his daughter’s benefit. Thus, to his 
huge satisfaction, he succeeded in making her laugh 
heartily, and was able at last to tell himself that he had 
left her in much better spirits than he found her. 

Nevertheless, when he walked away (for he declined 


128 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


to stay and dine, alleging that he had promised to go 
to the play with an old comrade in arms who had ac- 
companied him to London), there was no great disposi- 
tion towards laughter in him. 

It is dangerous,” he mused, Lionel ought to be 
warned that it is dangerous. Yet how to warn him? 
How say to a man, ^ Your wife is so beautiful that she 
is certain to have admirers in this great society of yours, 
and small attentions are the breath of life to her. Be- 
ware lest somebody else should begin to pay her the 
attentions which you have not time to remember! ’ No, 
it would be useless and impertinent to say that without 
saying more — Oott bewahre! I wish there were a baby 
— it is to be hoped that there will be a baby! Mean- 
while, I must keep my eyes open.” 

During the week that followed. Colonel Vigne’s 
anxious eyes saw nothing of a nature to cause him dis- 
quietude, and for this he did not fail to return thanks 
to Heaven. He was made to dine in Arlington-street 
on every evening for which his daughter and his son- 
in-law were not engaged elsewhere; he consented, not- 
withstanding his rather morbid fear of being a nuisance, 
to escort Marietta to sundry brilliant assemblages, and 
he satisfied himself that among the men who surrounded 
her there was nobody in particular whom she distin- 
guished by her favour. Possibly — being on the look- 
out — he might have thought differently, had he seen 
her conversing with Strahan; but it so chanced that she 
was only once brought within speaking distance of Mr. 
Strahan, and on that occasion she somewhat markedly 
avoided speaking to him. She had, indeed, quite made 
up her mind that she did not wish to be intimate with 
that rather free-and-easy gentleman. 

She could not, however, help receiving him when he 
turned up unexpectedly at luncheon one day — in obedi- 
ence, as he explained, to a request from Lionel, who 
for once was to be at home at that hour. What she 
could, and did do, was to receive him with exaggerated 
chilliness, to ignore all his efforts to engage her in con- 


THE COLONEL’S REMEDY. 


129 


versation, to devote her whole attention to a certain 
City magnate who arrived with her husband, and to 
leave the dining-room at the earliest opportunity. She 
could guess why the City magnate was there; she could 
guess what the three men were discussing over their 
cotfee and cigarettes, and she perceived, with mortifica- 
tion, how little weight her opinions or warnings had 
with Lionel. 

“ Not that he is likely to lose money over this or 
that it would matter very much if he did,’^ she mused, 
while she sat alone in the great, stiff drawing-room, to 
which she had not attempted to impart a homelike 
aspect; onlv he might have paid me the compliment 
of arguing the question with me.” 

She had ordered the carriage at half past four, until 
which time she had absolutely nothing to do; so she 
yawned wearily, tried to read a novel which did not 
interest her, and said to herself for the hundredth time 
that life was a dull and disappointing business. Per- 
haps its disappointing nature was impressed upon her 
a little more forcibly by the slamming of the heavy 
front door, which she heard after a time, and perhaps 
it was not an altogether unpleasant surprise to her 
when the drawing-room door was opened almost simul- 
taneously and Strahan’s voice asked: 

May I come in ? ” 

Please, do,” she answered, in high, cool accents. 

What has become of Lionel and Mr. Hicks? ” 

I forgot to inquire; they have gone off somewhere 
or other. They allowed me to remain behind — partly, 
I suppose, because they wanted to talk me over, and 
partly because I told them I wanted to have a word 
or two with you before being turned out into the street. 
Is it permitted to inquire why you are angry with me, 
Mrs. Mallet? ” 

There was a directness about the man’s methods 
with which Marietta was too inexperienced to compete 
successfully. She did her best to snub him; she civilly 
gave him to understand that he was far too unimpor- 


130 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


tant to have earned or merited her anger; she boldly 
and mendaciously declared that she had forgotten the 
liberties of which he accused himself. But his good- 
humoured persistency made short work of all these 
artifices, and she had to admit at length that she had 
thought him rather impertinent. 

^^Well,” he said, ‘Svill you forgive me? I beg 
your pardon very humbly, and I assure you that I 
did not mean to be impertient. Indeed, it was just 
in order to avoid the temptation to impertienence 
that I ventured to recommend physical remedies for 
mental malaise. It was clumsy of me, I dare say; 
but I was afraid of being more clumsy and more 
offensive. The truth is that I have always been a 
clumsy sort of person in my dealings with your sex; 
all I can plead is that my intentions are of the 
best.” 

He appeared to be genuinely penitent, as well as anx- 
ious to be pardoned. Marietta, knowing that his time 
was valuable, was conscious of the subtle flattery im- 
plied in the fact of his presence, and she could not help 
smiling upon him. 

“ You are a man,” she remarked; “ that explains 
everything. But I am not so sure about your being 
clumsy. You say that Lionel and Mr. Hicks are talk- 
ing you over: didn’t you begin by talking them over and 
getting what you wanted out of them? ” 

He laughed. Oh, I wasn’t so -modest as to pre- 
tend that I don’t know how to deal with my fellow- 
men; it is with women that I am so apt to do what I 
ought not to have done, and to leave undone what I 
ought to have done.” 

^‘Lionel becomes a director, then?” she asked 
quickly. 

Perhaps. Oh, yes, I suppose he will. You may re- 
member that I told you he would.” 

She was half provoked, half moved to reluctant ad- 
miration. 

Something tempted her to the indiscretion of say- 


THE COLONEL’S REMEDY. 


131 


ing, Do you know that I did my best to prevent him 
from obliging you?’^ 

“ So I rather imagined,” answered Strahan tran- 
quilly; I didn’t know for certain.” 

^^What made you imagine that? Did Lionel quote 
anything that I had said? ” 

No; hut his manner was so apologetic every now 
and then that I could see he had been lending an un- 
willing ear to calumny. I say calumny because I really 
am not a swindler, Mrs. Mallet.” 

I never called you a swindler,” Marietta declared, 
colouring slightly. 

^^No? But you don’t like me, I am afraid, and, 
ignorant as I am of women, I do know that when they 
dislike a man, they believe him capable of any iniqui- 

Marietta kept him some time waiting for a reply. 
At length she said: “ I can sympathise with ambition; 
I am ambitious myself — or used to he. Only it is dif- 
ficult to feel friendly with people who care simply and 
solely for their personal advancement and would sacri- 
fice anything and everything to it.” 

I am not one of those people,” he returned ear- 
nestly; there are soft places in me — which I am com- 
pelled, in self-defence, to cauterise as best I may. Don’t 
tempt me to reveal them to you, but pray believe that, 
whether you feel friendly towards me or not, my feel- 
ing for you will always he one of the most devoted 
friendship. To say that is not to take an unwarrantable 
liberty, I hope; for, after all, a man feels as he must, 
not always as he would wish.” 

She smiled and thanked him and glanced at the 
clock — a hint which he immediately took. After he had 
left her she was inclined to doubt whether she had 
made the most that could have been made of a situation 
replete with possibilities; but, upon the whole, she was 
not dissatisfied. What was evident was that Mr. Strahan 
was extremely desirous of standing well with her; that 
he no longer considered her — if indeed he had ever 


132 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


done so — as a quantite negligeahle; perhaps also that he 
was less insensible to her personal charms than he had 
the air of being. She would probably be able, should 
such be her pleasure, to give him some anxious quarters 
of an hour yet. 

But it was not, apparently, in her power to inflict 
similar salutary discipline upon her husband, whose 
deplorable good humour resisted all her efforts to dis- 
turb it, and who declined to discuss matters which he 
assured her that she could not understand when she 
subsequently taunted him with having been persuaded 
into bolstering up a doubtful enterprise. 

“ There never lived a more prudent man that I am,” 
he said. “ I put my arm in no farther than I can draw 
it back, whether it is a question of Australian mines 
or politics or racing. But Strahan is all right. You 
may take my word for that, and I hope you will over- 
come your prejudice against him. By the way, talking 
of racing, would you care to run down to Newmarket 
with me to-morrow for a day or two? It might amuse 
you to watch the gallops, and you would meet a lot 
of people whom you know.” 

Marietta was quite sure that she would derive no 
amusement at all from the occupation suggested, and 
was desperately tired of meeting people whom she 
knew. She added that she did not feel well, and wanted 
to know whether it was absolutely necessary that Lionel 
should leave her. 

Oh, I think, if you don’t mind. I’ll go,” he an- 
swered. “ It isn’t absolutely necessary, of course; but 
I hardly know when I shall have another opportunity 
of looking at the animals I have in training, and I 
sha’n’t be away more than three days — or four, at the 
outside. Couldn’t we induce the Colonel to come and 
keep you company while I am away?” 

Marietta replied coldly that that might be managed, 
no doubt; and, as a matter of fact, it was managed — 
Colonel Vigne consenting, under the circumstances, to 
accept the hospitality pressed upon him. 


THE COLONEL’S REMEDY. 


133 


Not a bit of it, my dear fellow,’^ the worthy Colonel 
said, in reply to certain expressions of hesitation and 
compunction on his son-in-law’s part; “ no reasonable 
being could call you selfish for giving yourself such a 
short holiday. God bless my soul! a man must be allowed 
to look at his own horses sometimes, if his trainers will 
kindly let him — which isn’t always the case, I’m told. 
But women, you know, aren’t reasonable beings; no- 
body expects it of them. Don’t you bother about 
Marietta. The truth of the matter is, I suspect, that 
she is a little bit out of sorts just now; but she shall 
be well looked after during your absence, I promise 
you.” 

It was quite true that Marietta was physically out 
of sorts. She had a good many engagements for the 
days that followed her husband’s departure; but she 
decided to neglect them all, alleging that she did not 
feel equal to the fatigue of keeping up conversation 
in heated rooms, and her father w’as not sorry to have 
her all to himself. She made the old man happy by 
taking him for long drives through the less frequented 
suburbs of London; she was touched by his affection, 
by his solicitude, by his evident anxiety to be assured 
that she did not regret the marriage which had made 
a great and wealthy lady of her. She might have given 
him that comforting assurance, seeing that she did not 
in truth repent of having married Lionel; but a desire 
to be petted and condoled with led her to formulate 
sundry specific charges against her husband. 

^‘He tells me nothing,” she said, one afternoon, when 
she and her father were strolling across Barnes Com- 
mon, where they had stopped the carriage; “he takes 
it as a matter of course that I must have interests in life 
apart from his, and that it is sheer waste of time to 
talk politics to a woman or racing to an ignoramus. In 
a way, I dare say he is right; still, when two people have 
got to spend the rest of their lives together, that sort of 
friendly divorce seems rather ” 

She left Colonel Vigne to supply the adjective. 


134 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


which he carefully abstained from doing. He judged 
it wiser to assert that Lionel was afraid of wearying 
her, and that every man requires a little encouragement 
before he will consent to mount his hobbies. 

Marietta laughed. I don’t know many men in- 
timately,” said she; ''but, so far, that has certainly 
not been my experience of them. Oh, I know what 
you are going to say! I have no business to grum- 
ble; I am an exceptionally fortunate woman to be 
so rich and to have such an indulgent husband. But 
— ^isn’t it perverse of me! — I should be fonder of a less 
indulgent husband, and what is more, it would be easier 
for me to believe that he was fond of me. Do you think 
that, a year ago, Lionel would have allowed me to go 
out into the world night after night, as I have been 
doing lately, without so much as taking the trouble to 
ask where I had been ? ” 

In truth, the Colonel did not think so; nor did he 
think that any good purpose would be served by ad- 
mitting as much. He had never been given to the 
analysis of human character; but he had had his little 
experiences, and, upon the whole, he was probably well- 
advised in rejoining: 

" My child, do not take it into your head that Lionel 
is not fond of you, that, believe me, would he a very 
great mistake. If he is not jealous, it is because he 
trusts you — which is surely a compliment! For the rest, 
in married life there always comes, sooner or later, a 
difficult moment. ‘MU dem Giirtel, mit dem Schleier 
Reisst der schone Wahn entzweiy as Schiller says.” 

"And what happens then?” asked Marietta rather 
tragically. 

" Ah, that depends — ^that depends! ” returned her 
father, laughing and glancing whimsically at her. 

There is, of course, one thing which is extremely 
likely to happen to married people, and which seems to 
have been designed by Nature or Providence for the 
purpose, amongst others of composing nascent differ- 
ences. He had a suspicion and a hope that it was going 


THE COLONEL’S REMEDY. 


135 


to happen in this case; but as nothing of the sort had 
been hinted at, he contented himself with a casual sug- 
gestion, by and by, that the family doctor should 
consulted. 

It strikes me. Marietta,” he remarked, that you 
want a tonic; it is generally the want of a tonic that 
makes us see things eyi noir.’’ 

She shrugged her shoulders. ‘‘You are like Mr. 
Strahan,” she answered; “ you think there must he a 
physical remedy for all ills.” 

The Colonel pricked up his ears. “Mr. Strahan? 
— who is he? ” 

“ One of Lionel’s friends. He noticed that I wasn’t 
in the highest of spirits a short time ago, and he was 
good enough to recommend me a rough-paced horse.” 

That prescription did not meet with the approval 
of the physician who, at Colonel Vigne’s instance, was 
called in on the following day; but he had a communi- 
cation to make which was received with unqualified 
satisfaction by his summoner and not without a pleased, 
wondering agitation on the part of the person chiefly 
concerned. It made a difference, she thought — per- 
haps it even made all the difference. In any case, it 
rendered her eager for her husband’s return and forget- 
ful of many things which had hitherto seemed impor- 
tant. 

So when Lionel arrived from Newmarket, there was 
something of a scene, and something of a renewal of 
bygone tendernesses. He was delighted, he was excited, 
he was full of absurd and unnecessary injunctions and 
precautions; for the moment, at all events, the ques- 
tion of the wife’s health appeared to have driven all 
questions relating to public affairs or sport out of his 
mind. And Colonel Vigne, chuckling contentedly, said 
to himself, “I knew how it would be! ” 


136 


MAEIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


CHAPTER XV. 

STRAHAN DISPLAYS A FRESH ACCOMPLISHMENT. 

That ladies in Mrs. Mallet’s condition of health are 
apt to be capricious, and that their caprices should al- 
ways, if possible, he humoured, is said to he an understood 
thing amongst persons of experience. Lionel remem- 
bered to have heard this, and was consequently not sur- 
prised when his wife expressed a strong desire to leave 
London forthwith. 

That can be easily managed,” he told her, with 
ready acquiescence, we’ll telegraph to Ludworth and 
say they may expect you the day after to-morrow, if 
you like. They won’t want more than one clear day, 
I suppose, to get things straight.” 

‘‘And you?” Marietta asked. “Will 3W be able 
to move so soon? ” 

Lionel’s face fell; he had not gathered that it would 
be required of him to abandon his parliamentary work 
at a somewhat critical period of the session. 

“ Well, not just at present, I’m afraid,” he answered. 
“ Of course, if it came to that, I might get a pair; but 
I’d a good deal rather not. It would be something like 
scratching one’s horse immediately after he had gone 
up several points in the betting, you see.” 

“Would it? Why?” 

“ Oh, I don’t mean to say that that speech of mine 
which you found so wearisome was a triumph of oratory; 
still, such as it was, it has made a considerable difference 
in my political prospects, and if I were to chuck the 
whole thing now, without giving any valid reason, I 
should probably have to wait a long time for another 
chance. Besides, I have a good many other matters to 
attend to which I couldn’t very well leave at a moment’s 
notice.” 

“ Am I to be sent down to Ludworth all by myself, 
then? ” Marietta asked. 


STRAHAN DISPLAYS A FRESH ACCOMPLISHMENT. I37 


Oh, I hope not. I was thinking that perhaps your 
father would consent to go with you. But if the fascina- 
tions of London are too much for him, I am sure granny 
and Betty would be delighted to keep you company. 
And in a few weeks^ time I shall be free, most likely.^^ 

Marietta looked so ill-pleased that he added hastily. 
However, if you insist, Lll find some means of doing as 
you wish. Would it be possible to make a compromise, 
and postpone our departure — say, for another fort- 
night ? ’’ 

Marietta replied that that would be possible, no 
doubt, but that she would prefer to get out of the hot, 
stuffy atmosphere of London at once, even if she had to 
go alone. She was a little, not to say a good deal, dis- 
appointed; for it did not seem to her unreasonable to 
ask what she considered a very trifling sacrifice of her 
husband; but she assured him that she insisted upon 
nothing, and would not for the world put him to incon- 
venience. How, indeed, was he to know that during 
the past twenty-four hours she had formed certain ad- 
mirable resolutions, that it was not only from the ma- 
terial atmosphere of London that she was so eager to 
escape, and that she had taken herself somewhat severe- 
ly to task for an infidelity which could scarcely be said 
to have passed as yet out of the early embryo stage? 
“ I have it in me to be such an excellent, loving wife,^^ 
she thought; but I can see that I shall never be met 
half-way, and when one is left to one’s own devices, 
like this ” 

She did not end a sentence to which her father 
could, perhaps, have supplied a conclusion; but her de- 
vices for the time being were, at all events, unexception- 
able, and the Colonel lent himself unhesitatingly to 
the furtherance of them. In Colonel Vigne’s opinion, 
there were numerous objections to his quartering him- 
self upon his son-in-law in Arlington Street; but he saw 
no reason at all why he should not accompany his 
daughter to Ludworth, where there would be no fine 
birds in fine feathers to look askance at a retired Aus- 


138 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


trian officer, and where he might even venture to assume 
that he would be of some use. So the father and 
daughter abruptly forsook the scene of the latter’s social 
successes, and Lady Gosport, who had secured Mari- 
etta’s promise of singing at her next concert, was par- 
donably incensed. 

“ So much for gratitude! ” she exclaimed. That 
woman owes everything to me; if I hadn’t introduced 
her last season, where would she have been? And now 
she throws me over with a cool note to say that she is 
sick of London! As if one shirked one’s duties because 
one was sick of them! ” 

“ I never should have thought, if you hadn’t told 
me,” said Lord Gosport, to whom this indignant apos- 
trophe was addressed, “ that it was a duty to squall aloud 
to several hundred people, not one of whom really 
wanted to listen. But cheer up, you can get another 
one.” 

I cannot! ” returned Lady Gosport, pettishly; “ she 
has the only voice of that kind that there is. I think 
it is most inconsiderate and impertinent of her, and I 
shall make a point of telling Lionel so the next time 
I see him.” 

No such speech was made to Lionel, to whom, in 
truth, it would not have been a very safe speech to 
make. Even-tempered though he was, he certainly 
would not have permitted anybody to describe his wife 
as impertinent, nor did Lady Gosport venture to take 
so great a liberty. She merely remarked plaintively, 
when she met him, that her concert had been spoilt 
by the desertion of the chief performer: to which he 
replied that he was very sorry, hut that it was a ques- 
tion of health. 

There was not much the matter with Marietta’s 
health; and if there had been, her grandmother-in-law 
would have been the woman to set it right. So, at least 
Lady Maria Halsted, who lost no time in inviting her- 
self to Ludworth, boldly affirmed. Lady Maria was 
agreeably excited by the news which had been trans- 


STEAHAN DISPLAYS A FEESH ACCOMPLISHMENT. 139 


ftiitted to her; she was evidently under the impression 
that it behoved her to take charge of the interesting 
object of her solitude, and she hastened to say that, 
although it had been a little inconvenient to her to leave 
home at that particular juncture, she was prepared to 
stay any reasonable length of time in her grandson’s 
house. 

I have brought Betty with me, you see,” she ex- 
plained; “ so I shall he able to keep an eye upon you 
both — which seems to be the principal duty marked out 
for me just now.” 

And then she proceeded to lay down certain rules 
of daily life and conduct, suitable to circumstances upon 
which she could speak with authority; whereat Marietta 
silently laid back her ears. 

Betty, who was a good deal less obtuse, took an early 
opportunity of saying reassuringly: “ Don’t mind 
granny; she’ll give no trouble. You want to get rid 
of her, of course, and I’ll manage that for you in a 
day or two, if you can’t manage it for yourself. In fact, 
to tell you the truth, that was why I allowed her to in- 
flict me upon you. Nothing would have prevented her 
from coming, and I foresaw that there might be difficulty 
in speeding the parting guest. I wonder whether you 
would mind asking papa to dine and sleep. He will 
accept an invitation, for I know he wants to look at 
Lionel’s foals; but he would die rather than ask for one, 
and forty-eight hours may be regarded as the outside 
limit of his stay. Then you will be able to blow kisses 
at our retreating backs.” 

“ I don’t want to see your retreating back,” an- 
swered Marietta; for indeed she liked the girl and was 
aware that Betty had been her friend during a critical 
period. Couldn’t you remain for a time after the oth- 
ers leave ? ” 

Betty nodded. Thank you,” said she; yes, I dare 
say that might be worked, if my old man doesn’t ob- 
ject. And it’s only fair to admit that he isn’t given to 
raising objections, poor dear! If I ever marry, I shall 
10 


140 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


select some juvenile reproduction of him; for there never 
was an easier creature to live with. Lionel runs him a 
good second, don^t you think so?” 

It could not be denied that Lionel was an easy person 
to live with; so Marietta assented, though with a mental 
reservation. Qualities which may be admirable in a 
father or a father-in-law are not necessarily those which 
one covets in a husband, and the distinction between 
generous liberality and unflattering indifference has al- 
ways been a rather difficult one to define. 

To Lord Middlewood’s demeanour towards his daugh- 
ter-in-law, however, no exception could possibly he 
taken. He arrived, a few days later, in response to the 
suggested invitation, and made himself so courteous and 
pleasant to her, as well as to Colonel Vigne, that they 
would both fain have induced him to prolong his stay. 
But that he declined to do. 

“ Nowadays,” said he, with a smile, “ I am always 
either ill or just going to be ill, and I have a haunting 
dread of being seized with my last malady under some- 
body else’s roof. Consequently, I think I had better get 
hack home, now that I have had the pleasures of seeing 
you and the foals. I meant to have tried that hay cob 
which Lionel undertook to break in for me; but the stud- 
groom has the impudence to say that he isnT fit for me 
to ride yet. Such are the insults to which one is made 
to submit in one’s old age! Betty, I am sure, would 
jump on to the little brute’s back as soon as look at him.” 

It was only in consideration of a solemn promise on 
Betty’s part to attempt no such enterprise that she was 
permitted to do as she wished and remain where she 
was. By means of what diplomatic pressure Lady Maria 
was persuaded that her son ought not to be left quite 
alone, and that it was her duty to accompany him to 
Middlewood, did not transpire; but the old lady departed 
when he did with many apologies and repeated assur- 
ances that a telegram would at any moment insure her 
prompt reappearance. 

And now,” said Betty to the Colonel, with whom 


STRAHAN DISPLAYS A FRESH ACCOMPLISHMENT. 141 


she had struck up an alliance, “ what shall we do to 
amuse Marietta? She strikes me as being a little down 
in the mouth. I suppose she wouldn^t care about pot- 
ting rabbits with a rook-rifle, would she? Because I’ve 
got one with me.” 

Colonel Vigne doubted whether she would. He him- 
self, however, was not averse to the proposed form of 
amusement, and he made capital practice from the ter- 
race with Betty’s weapon, while the two ladies looked on. 
Other methods of passing the time, which, if not highly 
exciting, sufficed for the purpose, were discovered; the 
weather was perfect, and day followed day, without 
weariness or impatience on the part of three people who 
got on very comfortable together. Marietta did not 
avail herself of Lionel’s epistolary permission to ask 
anybody she liked to stay with her. Indeed, she would 
have been puzzled to name any person whose presence 
she desired, and it was with an annoyed ejaculation that 
she heard from him, one morning, of the impending 
advent of an unexpected guest. 

“ Mr. Strahan is coming here to-day,” she announced 
to her companions at the breakfast-table. He has been 
to Manchester on business, Lionel says, and he proposes 
to pay us a flying visit on his way back to London. One 
doesn’t quite see why! ” 

“ Who is Mr. Strahan, when he is at home? ” Betty 
inquired. “ Is he a bore? ” 

Ho; he isn’t that. When he is at home, he is an 
Australian colonist, I suppose; though I am not sure that 
he regards Australia as his permanent home. At pres- 
ent he is working very busily on behalf of his colony 
with the great people here. You will probably like him, 
and I should think he would hardly stay more than a 
couple of nights,” concluded Marietta, after a pause. 

For her own part she was not disposed to give Mr. 
Strahan a very warm reception, notwithstanding the 
terms of renewed amity upon which they had last met. 
There was something about all his proceedings that 
moved her to antagonism, to the adoption of a defensive 


142 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


attitude, which might or might not be superfluous. At 
any rate, she could see no reason why a busy man should 
branch off the main line from Manchester to London, 
in order to halt at Ludworth, and she thought her hus- 
band might have consulted her before giving an un- 
necessary invitation. 

Nevertheless, the frigidity with which Strahan was 
greeted, on his arrival, soon thawed beneath the charm 
of his manner — a charm to which neither Betty nor 
Colonel Vigne was insensible, and which consisted, per- 
haps, rather in the contagion of his high spirits than in 
any visible effort to achieve social conquests. Moreover, 
he was able to give a plausible explanation of his in- 
trusion. 

“ Your husband made me promise and swear to bring 
him back a full and particular account of your health, 
Mrs. Mallett,^^ he said. “ We were all very sorry to hear 
that 3^ou had not been feeling well before you left Lon- 
don; but I think I may conscientiously report that coun- 
try air has set you up. I was also instructed to ride a 
cob which, I understand, is being broken in for Lord 
Middlewood, and to warrant him quiet and tractable, 
if I can.’’ 

Y^ou won’t be able to do that,” observed Betty, shak- 
ing her head. I mean, I doubt your being able to war- 
rant him quiet. As for riding him — well, can you ride? ” 

Strahan smiled. Oh, yes, I think so,” he answered 
modestly; I won’t be so bold as to say that you would 
think so. But I am a light weight, as you see, and I 
have had a considerable experience of falls; so if the cob 
gets rid of me, I shall not be left upon Mrs. Mallet’s 
hands with any broken bones, I hope.” 

“ If you don’t mind,” said Betty demurely, I should 
rather like to go out with you to-morrow and — and see 
the fun. I’m not allowed to mount such wild animals 
as the cob myself; but there is a solemn old mare in the 
stables who will carry me, and who will take care to give 
you as wide a berth as you can want.” 

This request was willingly granted, and after break- 


STRAHAN DISPLAYS A FRESH ACCOMPLISHMENT. I43 

fast, the next morning. Marietta watched the conple 
setting forth on an expedition which promised to he en- 
livened by exciting incidents. For the cob was very 
fresh, and if he did not succeed in bucking his rider out 
of the saddle the moment that he felt the grass under 
him, that was probably because Mr. Strahan was not 
at his first experience of buckers. 

Isn’t it horribly dangerous? ” asked Marietta, turn- 
ing apprehensively to her father. 

The Colonel laughed and shook his head. It might 
be for old fellows like me and Lord Middlewood,” he 
answered, because we should be tired out at the end 
of half an hour; but that young man seems to be wiry and 
in good condition. He sits well, too. I dare say he can 
do a good many things more difficult than riding a young 
horse. There is a pluck about him and an energy which 
I admire; although I am not quite sure that I should 
choose him for a friend.” 

“ Why do you say that ? ” asked Marietta quickly. 

‘‘ Upon my word, my dear, I can’t tell you,” the Colo- 
nel confessed; I have no sort of right to say it. But 
he was talking to me last night about his schemes, and, 
somehow or other, he gave me the impression of being 
rather more clever than scrupulous. Well, to be sure, 
that is the case with most prominent men, from Prime 
Ministers downwards; it’s a necessary condition of suc- 
cess perhaps. I suppose, as you said nothing about it, 
there is no harm in his riding out with Miss Betty and 
without a chaperon. In my young days that wouldn’t 
have been allowed, you know.” 

Marietta did not think that there was much danger 
of Mr. Strahan’s laying siege to the affections of Lord 
Middlewood’s daughter, although when Betty came in 
to luncheon, her companion having gone up stairs to 
divest himself of his riding attire, she declared in so 
many words that he was a man after her own heart. 

Ho swagger about him,” she said, “ but a genuine 
workman. That little brute gave him any amount of 
trouble at first, and he understood exactly what to do. 


144 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Decidedly I shall cultivate Mr. Strahan. Lionel has 
asked him to come down for the grouse-shooting, he tells 
me.” 

Strahan himself made very light of the achieve- 
ment with which he was credited. The horse was per- 
fectly good-tempered, he said; only high-spirited and 
rather inclined to be wilful. 

He isnT exactly what you could call an old gentle- 
man’s cob yet; but he very soon will be. All he wants is 
a little management. I only wish Mr. Sitwell and Mr. 
Hicks were as easy to manage! ” 

In the course of the afternoon. Marietta being 
left alone with him for a few minutes, took occasion 
to inquire whether he had found those two eminent 
personages recalcitrant, to which he replied with a 
laugh: 

Oh, not more so than was to be anticipated. I am 
asking a good deal of them, you see, and Rome wasn’t 
built in a day. They are as civil as possible to me; so 
that I have nothing personally to complain of, and I 
rather enjoy a few difficulties. It is very evident, though, 
that I shall not be able to leave the old country again yet 
a while.” 

Do you regret that? ” 

Well, no,” he answered musingly, after a brief hesi- 
tation; I don’t regret it. For some reasons I am glad. 
May I say that you are one reason.” 

Marietta frowned slightly. It sounded a somewhat 
impertinent thing to say; yet to show that she thought it 
so would be almost equivalent to paying him a higher 
compliment than she cared to pay him. 

You are very kind,” was the would-be chilling re- 
joinder which finally commended itself to her. 

" Oh, one must speak the truth sometimes. I have 
made a great many new acquaintances since I have been 
back in England; but you are the only one to whom I 
have felt drawn by — well, I suppose there is no other 
expression for it but natural affinity. It is rather bad 
luck that you should also be the only one who seems 


LORD MIDDLEWOOD CONQUERS. 145 

to regard me with a sort of natural antipathy, isn’t 
it?” 

I have no feeling of the sort/’ Marietta declared. 

The last time that you accused me of disliking you, 
I told you what it was in you that I do not quite like. 
But really it is of no consequence.” 

Of none to you, perhaps; but it is of some conse- 
quence to me. Well, I must try to be less self-seeking; 
for I suppose that is what you mean. All the same, a man 
must be rich if he is to practise universal benevolence. 
I am afraid I shall never get beyond either hating or 
despising my enemies and loving my friends.” 

He was silent for a moment, and then resumed ab- 
ruptly: Mallet asked me to run down for a week in Au- 
gust. May I accept the invitation, if I can find time? ” 

May you!” echoed Betty, who drew near at this 
moment and caught his last words; “ I should rather 
think you might! If Marietta won’t have you, we’ll put 
you up at Middlewood. Indeed, you will have to come to 
Middlewood then; for there are no grouse hereabouts.” 

“ In that case,” observed Marietta, laughing, it 
doesn’t rest with me to answer Yes or No.” 


CHAPTER XYI. 

LORD MIDDLEWOOD CONQUERS AND IS CONQUERED. 

At the fag end of a session the whips of a Govern- 
ment which is blessed with a substantial working major- 
ity can afford to be lenient, and Lionel Mallet, in plead- 
ing urgent domestic affairs, was given to understand 
that his presence at Westminster might be dispensed 
with. 

" I suppose,” observed the J unior Lord of the Treas- 
ury, who conveyed this kindly intimation to him, “ your 


146 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


domestic affairs are not altogether unconnected with 
Goodwood.^^ 

“ Well, not altogether,” Lionel confessed, laughing; 
a maids horses are a part of his family. Besides, I 
hope to take my wife down for the week.” 

He quite hoped to do so, and he also hoped to enjoy 
a holiday which he was conscious of having earned. He 
had become greatly interested in politics, he had distin- 
guished himself in a measure far beyond his expecta- 
tions, and he meant to do a good deal of work during 
the recess; still he now felt entitled to devote some 
of his attention to sport, which, when all is said, remains 
the most satisfactory of occupations for a man who is 
rich enough to com.mand the cream of it. It is needless 
to add that he likewise proposed to devote a large share 
of his attention to his wife — and how was he, as an 
eminently reasonable being, to guess that she would be 
satisfied with nothing less than the whole of it? 

Reasonableness not being one of Marietta’s eminent 
characteristics, the joy of the released legislator on his 
return to Ludworth was somewhat marred by the manner * 
in which his suggestions were received. 

I wish there were no horses in the world, except 
those that are required to draw carriages and carts! ” 
Mrs. Mallet exclaimed impatiently. “ Oh, dear, no! I 
haven’t the slightest wish to undertake that long, hot, 
dusty journey — nothing would induce me! Certainly 
not the prospect of spending hours and hours on a race- 
course. I thought we were going to have a few weeks of 
peace and quietness at home.” 

Lionel had been under the impression that his wife 
was not particularly enamoured of peace and quietness; 
but he refrained from reminding her of previous speeches 
which had seemed to reveal another order of tastes. He 
only said, a little ruefully: 

Just as you like, of course. After all, there is no 
necessity for me to go to Goodwood, and perhaps, now 
that one comes to think of it, the fatigue would be rather 
too much for you.” 


LORD MIDDLEWOOD CONQUERS. 


147 


We will get the doctor to say so, at any rate,” an- 
swered Marietta, smiling (for she was pacified by his 
ready submission); “ but I won’t be so selfish as to spoil 
your pleasure. You will only be away about a w*eek, I 
suppose ? ” 

If she expected him to declare that he would not 
leave her at all, she was disappointed. 

Oh, the inside of a week,” he replied, with alacrity; 
‘‘ and after that I shall be entirely at your service until 
we go to Middlewood for the twelfth. And you will 
have your father and Betty with you while I am away, 
you know.” 

Well, no; as a matter of fact, they are both leaving 
the day after to-morrow. My father is due at Gastein, 
where he has already engaged rooms, and Betty, I be- 
lieve, is wanted at home. She has only stayed here all 
this time out of good nature and because I begged her 
to remain until you arrived. But it doesn’t matter.” 

“ Oh, hut I should think that might be arranged,” said 
Lionel cheerfully. I’ll go and persuade them to stretch 
another point in our favour.” 

He was not able to persuade Colonel Vigne, who 
shrank from accepting further hospitality, and who 
affirmed, with truth, that he had promised to meet at 
Innsbruck a veteran comrade whom he must not disap- 
point; but Betty proved more amenable. 

I’m afraid my old man is getting a little down in 
the mouth, that’s all,” she said. But he spoke of com- 
ing over to fetch me; so if he can be induced to stay a few 
days, that will be all right, and the change will do him 
good. He rather liked himself when he was here before, 
though he pretended to he in a great hurry to get away.” 

Accordingly, a lengthy telegram (Betty affected long 
telegrams and short letters) was despatched to Lord 
Middlewood, who returned a favourable reply, and who, 
as soon as he arrived, explained that he had been anx- 
ious to take that opportunity of consulting his son with 
regard to the purchase of certain lands which had come 
into the market. 


148 


MARIETTA'S MARRIAGE. 


Otherwise,” said he, I should have hesitated to 
inflict my dreary society upon Alarietta again so soon.” 

His society was never dreary, and if that of his 
daughter-in-law did not possess special attractions for 
him, he certainly behaved as though it did. ^ I am de- 
lighted,” he lost no time in telling Lionel, ^Ho think 
that certain apprehensions of mine with regard to your 
wife were unfounded. She strikes me now as having 
accepted the situation, and what is perhaps more im- 
portant, the situation — in the shape of coming maternity 
— has taken possession of her.” 

You formed altogether mistaken notions about 
Marietta,” said Lionel: I was sure, all along, that you 
would change your mind when you came to know her 
better.” 

“ My dear fellow, you couldn’t have been sure; be- 
cause nothing was certain at the time of your marriage, 
except that you were taking a leap in the dark. How- 
ever, if you have landed upon your feet, so much the bet- 
ter; and, as I say, this approaching event is a matter for 
congratulation on all grounds. I suSpect, though, that 
you have had a narrower squeak than you imagine, and 
that her acceptance of the situation was by no means a 
foregone conclusion.” 

“ Dear me, was it such a difficult one to accept? ” 
H’m, I should say that it presented difficulties — 
and temptations. But since they have been, as one hopes, 
overcome, we needn’t talk about them.” 

Lionel was not at all disposed to talk about them. 
He was sitting with his father in the library, where they 
had been left in order that they might discuss business 
affairs, and he suggested that they should now proceed 
to do so. 

But there was not, it appeared, very much to discuss. 
An occasion had arisen for the acquisition of two or three 
farms adjoining the Derbyshire property, of which Lord 
kliddlewood judged it advisable to take advantage, and 
the approval of his heir, which he was in no way com- 
pelled to solicit, was promptly given. Any question re- 


LORD MIDDLEWOOD CONQUERS. 


149 


lating to the property, he explained, must be of greater 
interest to his heir than to him, seeing that his tenure of 
property and life was liable to be cut short from one 
moment to another. 

Lionel laughed. “I am glad to say,” he replied, 
“ that I never saw you looking more fit than you do just 
now. I don^t think you have anything in the world the 
matter with you.” 

“ Oh, I have such a heap of things the matter with 
me that I think they must have arranged a sort of truce 
among themselves to decide which of them shall lead 
the final attack; for I own to feeling better than I have 
any right to feel. With luck, I may even manage a day 
or two at the driven birds next month; of course, I shall 
never attempt ^ dogging ^ again. By the way, have you 
any names to add to this list for the twelfth ? One wants 
to know the number of guns, and Betty, I believe, wants 
to know how many bedrooms will be required.” 

Lionel glanced at the slip of paper which his father 
handed to him. I think that’s all right,” he an- 
swered. “ You have got Strahan down, I see? ” 

‘‘Yes: in obedience to instructions received from 
Betty. I don’t know that I am personally consumed with 
anxiety to entertain the gentleman, but I understand 
that you are prepared to be responsible for him.” 

“ For his shooting, do you mean? ” asked Lionel. 

“ Well, for that amongst other things. But you don’t 
stop there, do you ? Aren’t you in the position of vouch- 
ing for his good behaviour, social and financial ? ” 

Lionel laughed. “ You pretend to bury yourself 
down in the depths of the country, and yet you contrive 
to know all about everything. Yes, I am to be one of 
the directors of Strahan’s new company, which I am as- 
sured, on the best authority, is a sound undertaking. 
If you call that making myself financially responsible 
for him I am responsible. As for his social good be- 
haviour, he hardly needs a sponsor nowadays; he knows 
a good many more dukes and duchesses than I do.” 

“ And how much do they know of him, I wonder? 


150 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


My own memory is so tenacious that I have not forgotten 
an episode in his university career which preceded — I 
won’t say that it caused — his departure for the Antip- 
odes.” 

If you remember that/’ said Lionel, I think you 
might also remember that another man was pretty con- 
clusively proved to have been guilty. You are like St. 
Quintin; you can’t forgive him for having dragged my 
name into the business.” 

Mr. St. Quintin,” observed Lord Middlewood drily, 
is a young man for whose common sense I have a very 
sincere admiration. You are perfectly safe in making a 
friend of him; I must take the liberty of doubting wheth- 
er the other fellow’s friendship can be enjoyed with an 
equal sense of security. The company, I am told, is right 
enough — though I fail to see what need it had of your 
support — but in private life I wouldn’t be too intimate 
with Mr. Strahan, if I were you. Why enter into compe- 
tition with the dukes and duchesses? ” 

Lord Middlewood generally had good reasons for say- 
ing what he said, and possessed sources of information 
which it was not his habit to divulge. Lionel, who was 
familiar with his little ways, only smiled, and answered 
that he would make a note of it. His own temperament 
was the reverse of suspicious, and he saw no reason at all 
for regarding Strahan with suspicion. Moreover, there 
was absolutely nothing of which to suspect the poor man. 
What social mischief was it in Strahan’s power to work? 
His father could have told him; hut his father was far 
too wise and prudent a man to risk so great an indis- 
cretion. 

It is one of the many anomalies of human nature that 
our wisdom and prudence (when we have any) are apt to 
he more conspicuous in our treatment of our neighbours’ 
affairs than of our own. Thus, after Lionel had departed 
for Goodwood and Colonel Vigne had set off for Styria, 
Lord Middlewood must needs take it into his head to 
ride the bay cob, which a competent authority had pro- 
nounced as yet unsuitable to carry an elderly gentleman. 


LORD MIDDLEWOOD CONQUERS. 


151 


It may have been because that authority was emphatical- 
ly quoted by Betty and Marietta that his lordship dis- 
played a good deal of obstinacy in the matter; anyhow, 
neither their eloquence nor that of the stud-groom 
availed to dissuade him from his purpose. 

I am the meekest and most down-trodden of men,” 
he said; “ but I do make bold to claim the right of riding 
my own horses, and perhaps I may, without undue arro- 
gance, mention that I have had some slight experience of 
the art of equitation in my day. You, of course, will say, 
Betty, that my day is over. That may be; but I believe 
I still know almost as much about the management of 
a horse as you — perhaps even almost as much as your 
Mr. Strahan does.” 

“ It isn’t want of knowledge, it’s want of strength,” 
returned Betty bluntly; “ I don’t suppose the cob will 
put you down, but I’m sure he’ll make you ill. Well, 
if you insist upon going, I shall go with you, that’s 
all.” 

“Provided with a leading rein perhaps? My dear 
child, you will do no such thing. You will be good 
enough to stay where you are and amuse Marietta with 
sprightly conversation while I take a quiet canter across 
the park. If I come back one penny the worse, I will 
give you leave to condemn me to a bath-chair for the 
rest of my days.” 

He was really an excellent horseman and, as he had 
told Lionel, he was feeling stronger than he had done 
for some time past; so that the enterprise upon which 
he had embarked could hardly be accounted a perilous 
one. Yet he had not proceeded very far on his way be- 
fore he \^as forced to the inward admission that he was 
an old fool, and that his daughter had not been far 
wrong in her summing up of the case. A certain amount 
of bucking and kicking is all very well; but even a young 
man is sensible of some exhaustion after ten minutes 
of it, and the playful cob showed every disposition to in- 
dulge in these gambols for a much longer space of time. 
He was, besides, an extremely powerful little beast — 


152 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


so powerful that it seemed better to let him bolt over 
the grass than to try and hold him. 

That, at least, was what Lord Middlewood said to 
himself; but the strict truth was that he had very little 
choice in the matter. What he could and did do was to 
retain enough command over his horse to avoid being 
knocked out of the saddle by overhanging houghs, and 
at length a stretch of rising ground enabled him to ter- 
minate that episode in his ride. 

Subsequent episodes were, however, obviously to he 
expected, and in due course they occurred. Lord Mid- 
dlewood so far triumphed over difficulties that he did not 
part company with the cob during two hours of violent 
exercise, and that he was able, on dismounting in the 
stable-yard, to say composedly to the stud-groom, This 
will make a nice little hack some day; only you must give 
him plenty of work.” But he staggered a little as he 
walked towards the house, and while he slowly and 
painfully mounted the stairs to his bedroom, he was fain 
to own that his victory had been a virtual defeat. Skill 
and knowledge — possibly even courage — may remain 
with us to the last; hut the power to utilise wffiat we pos- 
sess passes away, beckoning us to follow soon. This old 
man, who was somewhat older than the actual tale of his 
years warranted, had been a strong man once upon a 
time; hut he was phj^sically strong no longer, and while 
he lay hack in the armchair into which he had dropped, 
he said to himself ruefully that perhaps his mental ca- 
pacity also had begun to 3deld to the inflexible law of 
decay. 

What do I know? ” he murmured; and what dif- 
ference would it make if I did know? La parole est aux 
jeunes; they must make or mar their lives for them- 
selves, just as we did, and Lionel, after all, may under- 
stand what he is about; though his wife, if I am not 
much mistaken, belongs to a class of women who are 
devilish difficult to deal with. Anyhow, he is a more 
level-headed fellow than I was at his age; one must get 
what comfort one can out of that reflection. Meanwhile, 


LORD MIDDLEWOOD CONQUERS. 


153 


I wonder whether I should scandalise the household if 
I rang for a glass of brandy. Because it strikes me very 
forcibly that unless I have one I shall make myself su- 
premely ridiculous by being discovered in a dead faint.” 

It was in that condition that, about half an hour 
later, Lord Middlewood was discovered by his valet. The 
bell had not been rung; but the luncheon gong had 
sounded, and as the result of a hurried consultation be- 
low stairs, it had been decided to disobey his lordship’s 
standing orders, which were to the effect that no servant 
should ever disturb him without having been summoned. 
Whether an existence of which its owner was more than 
half tired might have been prolonged by an earlier dis- 
play of disobedience or not remained open to question. 
The doctor, who was summoned post-haste, and who ar- 
rived in time to certify that life had been extinct for two 
hours, thought not. Failure of the heart’s action, in- 
duced by over-exertion, was his verdict, and he hastened 
to assure those about him that no shadow of blame at- 
tached to anybody. 

But poor disconsolate Betty could not help feeling 
that a great deal of blame attached to her. There was 
little use in suggesting — as Marietta and others tenta- 
tively did — that she had lost that kindest and most in- 
dulgent of fathers because he had also been, upon occa- 
sion, one of the most obstinate of mortals. 

I knew quite well that he had no business to get on 
the back of that horse,” she returned, through her tears, 
and I could have prevented him if I had taken the 
trouble. I can always prevent anything when I take 
the trouble. You may say what you please, but I shall 
never forgive myself to my dying day! ” 

Yet a man who is enabled to leave this troublesome 
world without the preliminary misery of a long illness 
should be accounted fortunate, and it is by no means 
certain that Lord Middlewood had selected an inaus- 
picious moment for severing his connection with human 
cares, anxieties and misgivings. 


154 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


CHAPTEK XVII. 

THE NEW EEGIME. 

Some of us who are quite the reverse of young re- 
member that, in our schoolroom days, we were made to 
commit to memory a touching little poem, the open- 
ing stanza of which described her Most Gracious Majesty 
(to whom Heaven grant many more years of health!) 
as having wept to wear a crown ” ; and, indeed, it must 
be owned that, even under a constitutional form of gov- 
ernment, a crown is rather too heavy a head-gear to be 
comfortable. A coronet, on the other hand, may, as a 
rule, be made to fit just as lightly and loosely as the 
wearer pleases, and as it is apt to be accompanied by 
numerous contingent advantages, those who succeed 
thereto are seldom looked upon as fit subjects for pity by 
their friends. Nevertheless, the wail of the extinguished 
politician has latterly made itself heard more than once 
from the lips of promoted heirs- apparent, and if ever any- 
body had cause to lament his abrupt elevation to the 
Upper House, assuredly that man was Lionel Mallet. 

Already rich and a large landed proprietor, he could 
gain nothing from the Middlewood estates, save addi- 
tional worry; public life had begun to fascinate him; 
he had made such a start in it as, by common consent, 
justified him in looking forward to office at no distant 
date; and now, by the caprice of destiny, he found him- 
self condemned on a sudden to a career of more or less 
dignified obscurity. When to this is added, what was 
the simple truth, that the loss of his father was a very 
real grief to him, it will be perceived the many messages 
of condolence which awaited him at Middlewood had not 
been despatched to the wrong address. 

It was to Ludworth that he was summoned by tele- 
graph; but on the succeeding day he, with his wife 
and his sister, moved to the huge, gloomy house which 
was now his, and whither the remains of the late owner 


THE NEW R^IGIME. 


155 


were at the same time transported. The obsequies which 
followed were attended by a vast assemblage of relatives 
and friends, most of whom had to be accommodated for 
a night, and there were, of course, many matters of busi- 
ness to he transacted; so that it was not for some little 
time that the new Lady Middlewood (who, to tell the 
truth, rather enjoyed the sensation of being a viscountess) 
found an opportunity for the quiet exchange of ideas with 
her husband. 

You look quite ill,’’ she began one morning; I 
should never have thought that you would take this so 
much to heart.” 

Do you think that I shouldn’t care? ” asked Lionel. 

Oh, I knew you would be sorry; we are all very 
sorry — and it was so dreadfully sudden, too! But — well, 
you are not much given to looking at the dark side of 
things, are you? You haven’t a great deal of sympathy 
with such unfortunate beings as I am, who sink into 
despondency upon the smallest provocation, or even with- 
out provocation at all. Yot that I blame you for that; 
I only wish I were like you! ” 

He understood that he was being reproached for hav- 
ing neglected her, and he made haste to express peni- 
tence. I ought not to have gone to Goodwood — Heaven 
knows I wish I hadn’t! — and I am afraid I have been be- 
having all this time as if you were strong and well, 
whereas I might have known that you were in no state to 
bear all that has been laid upon your shoulders. But 
there have been such heaps of things to think about! 
Are you feeling ill. Marietta? ” 

She was feeling quite well, and she said so; but she 
wanted some little notice to be taken of her, and she also 
wanted her husband to look a little less harassed and 
woebegone. Her queer, capricious, jealous temperament 
led her to detect something like a personal slight in his 
grief; and Lionel scarcely mended matters when he ex- 
plained that, considerations of natural atfection apart, 
the event which had happened was a most unfortunate 
one for him. 

11 


•156 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


I really can’t see why it should make all that differ- 
ence/’ she said, rather petulantly; you will he in Par- 
liament just the same, whether you sit in the House of 
Lords or the House of Commons; and if you are so am- 
bitious — hut it never seems to me that you have any real 
ambition — surely you are a greater man now than you 
were before poor Lord Middle wood died! ” 

Lionel smiled and shook his head. 

Well, at all events, we are richer,” she persisted, 
and of higher rank.” 

We shall go in to dinner for the future before some 
people whom we used to follow, no doubt. As for being 
richer I am not so sure. You know, I suppose, that I only 
succeed to the entailed property; my father left every- 
thing that he could — and quite rightly — to Betty.” 

Marietta had not been aware of that, and the news 
did not altogether please her. 

Betty is a great heiress then? ” she said. 

Very much so; for it may he taken as certain that 
she will inherit my grandmother’s money. I wish she 
were not obliged to turn out of her old home and go to 
Chelton, poor child! But that, I am afraid, is unavoid- 
able.” 

Marietta did not respond to the appeal which was visi- 
ble in her husband’s eyes. She was fond of Betty, but 
she knew the young lady to he of a masterful disposition, 
and there would he obvious objections to her remaining 
in a house where she had once borne rule. 

For the rest, those objections were perfectly patent 
to Betty, whose common sense did not need to he rein- 
forced by the behests of Lady Maria. 

I should be in everybody’s way, including my own, 
here,” she told her brother, and I shall be a positive 
godsend to granny, who is so lonely and miserable that 
I do believe she would end by marrying Mr. Grace if she 
were left to her own devices. So you see I owe it to myself 
to go and keep her under proper control.” 

Betty, after the first violence of her grief had spent 
itself, strove gallantly to resume the style of speech 


THE NEW REGIME. 


157 


and bearing to which all who knew her were accus- 
tomed; hut her efforts were not rewarded with any strik- 
ing success, and it was a very sad and sobered little 
lady who presently set forth for Chelton to open a fresh 
chapter in life. That her father^s will had made her 
rich and would, in a few years, render her magnificently 
independent was no sort of consolation to her. She had 
always had as much money as she had wanted, and the 
liberty which even her governesses had scarcely attempted 
to restrict, was now, as she well knew, about to be serious- 
ly threatened. 

The first thing to be done,” she mused, will be to 
get rid of old Grace. Otherwise there will be trouble; 
for he will certainly disapprove of my ways of going on, 
and he is far too dense and self-satisfied to abstain from 
saying so. I wonder whether Lionel couldnT get him 
the offer of a colonial bishopric.” 

The new Viscount Middle wood, had such a sugges- 
tion been addressed to him, would have replied that he 
had no longer infiuence enough to procure the offer of 
anything for anybody. St. Quintin, who deplored his re- 
moval from the Lower House as much as he did, assured 
him by post that he must by no means regard his politi- 
cal career as closed; but his own conviction was that it 
might as well be so regarded, and the thought saddened 
him; for he was full of life and energy, and had of late 
begun to suspect himself of possessing some measure of 
ability into the bargain. He would have to stick to 
sport, he supposed: after all, the turf offers an honest and 
able man plenty of scope for the employment of surplus 
energy. 

Meanwhile, the twelfth of August was at hand, and 
what was to be done about the moors? The invitations 
sent out by his father had, of course, been cancelled, and 
the entertainment of anything resembling a house-party 
was not to be thought of; still grouse must be shot, just 
as meals must be eaten, whether one is in mourning or 
not. 

Three guns will do,” he told his wife. I think. 


158 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


I will get St. Quintin to come down — and perhaps Stra- 
han. Would you mind having Strahan?” 

“ Not in the least,” answered Marietta. Why should 
I mind? ” 

''Well, you say that you dislike him and distrust 
him.” 

" I may have said so; I am not sure that I say so now. 
At any rate, if he shoots as well as he rides, there will 
he no need to distrust him in the capacity for which he 
is wanted.” 

" Oh, he can shoot,” answered Lionel; " he is one 
of those lucky beggars who can do anything that they 
want to do.” 

So a note was despatched to Mr. Strahan who replied 
by return of post that he believed he could manage to 
give himself a holiday of a week or ten days. St. Quin- 
tin and he arrived together on the eve of the twelfth, 
and the former had not been a quarter of an hour in the 
house before he candidly told Marietta that he was not 
precisely enchanted at finding himself under the same 
roof with the latter. 

" I have never half liked that fellow, and I never 
shall,” he said. " I wish Lionel wouldn’t make a friend 
of him! ” 

" You don’t think well of the Australian Company? ” 
asked Marietta. 

" I certainly shouldn’t if I had only Strahan’sword for 
its prospects; but I am told that it is going to he a suc- 
cess, and he has infiuential people at his back — Lionel 
amongst others. The Australian Company will pay 
good dividends, I dare say; it’s the personal company of 
the secretary that I don’t see any particular need for. 
However, I don’t suppose you agree with me.” 

She was all the less inclined to agree with him be- 
cause her feminine instinct had warned her from the out- 
set against the subject of these disparaging remarks. 
She took Strahan’s part; she wanted to hear in plain 
terms what there was to he urged to his disadvantage, 
and, on being told that there was nothing, she observed 


THE NEW R^IGIME. 


169 


that, under those circumstances, it was scarcely fair or 
generous to run him down. 

St. Quintin admitted that it was not, and had no 
rejoinder to make when Lady Middle wood resumed 
rather severely: 

It seems to me that you are too fond of running 
down people about whom you do not know much. There 
was a time, not so long ago, I think, when you used to 
run down my father and me.” 

Well, at least Mr. Strahan’s prowess upon the moors 
was not to he disputed by St. Quintin or anybody else. 
He returned, fresh and smiling, after a long and very hot 
day, having walked his companions clean off their legs, 
and claiming thirty-two brace to his own gun; which, 
in that part of the world, had to he accounted a highly 
creditable performance over dogs. He had, moreover, 
so thoroughly enjoyed his tramp over the heathery moor- 
land that it was impossible to help being infected by his 
good humour. 

“ We all wanted cheering up,” remarked Marietta, 
after dinner, “ and you have given us what we wanted.” 

To which he replied briskly, It’s everybody’s duty 
to be cheerful. Lady Middlewood. Personally, I don’t 
find that a difficult duty to discharge.” 

But it seems that you never find anything diffi- 
cult.” 

Oh, excuse me! It isn’t half as easy as might 'be 
supposed to persuade Mr. Sitwell that two and two make 
four; it hasn’t been by any means easy to secure the 
friendly support of old Hicks; least of all is it easy to 
secure yours.” 

Yet I always fight your battles. If you were to 
speak of Mr. St. Quintin’s friendly supports, for in- 
stance ” 

“ Ah, that’s not to be had; I am endeavouring to get 
on as well as I can without it. Is it with him that you 
have been waging battle on my behalf? ” 

As she did not reply, he resumed, It is delightful, 
anvhow, to hear that you sometimes speak a good word 


IGO 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


for me when my back is turned. Do you know, Lady 
Middlewood, I would rather have one good word from 
you than twenty from — shall we say, your very important 
and powerful husband? ’^ 

Lionel pretends that he has lost all power and im- 
portance by succeeding to the title. Do you think that 
I can he of more use to you than he, then? ” 

I didn’t say that that was my reason,” answered Stra- 
han. You still set me down as a man whose eyes are 
steadily and consistently fixed upon the main chance, 
I see.” 

His eyes were at that moment gazing straight into 
hers, from which they were not very distant. Seated 
on a low chair by her side, he was leaning forward with 
his elbows on his knees. Lionel and St. Quintin, dead 
sleepy after their long day’s work, had gone off to keep 
themselves awake, if possible, with a game of billiards; 
the long room was silent and dimly lighted; if Mr. Stra- 
han was not making love to his host’s wife — and indeed 
he was not — he had a good deal the appearance of being 
so engaged. Possibly this struck him, for he suddenly 
pushed his chair back, and added, in a somewhat altered 
voice: 

Well, you’re perfectly right; the main chance is 
just what I’m hound to keep perpetually before me. I 
remember telling you once that, case-hardened as I am, 
there are vulnerable places about me; hut it doesn’t do to 
talk of them — or think of them. Let it be agreed that, if 
I value your friendship, it is chiefly because the friend- 
ship of a great lady must he valuable to a poor devil 
Avith his fortune to make. After all, even that view of 
things ought to give you a sort of interest in me.” 

Marietta replied composedly that she had always felt 
a great interest in Mr. Strahan. It would he greater, of 
course, if she knew a little more accurately than she did 
what his immediate aspirations were. 

He had not the least objection to telling her. He 
leant hack in his chair, stretched his legs out, and dreAV 
a quick, graphic outline of the career at which he aimed. 


THE NEW REGIME. 


161 


He did not want money only — althoiigli he did want 
that, and meant to have it — his ambition was to he the 
practical creator of a dependency, as yet sparsely in- 
habited and almost unknown in the mother country, 
which should become one of the most important of Brit- 
ish colonies; he wished, in short, to be amongst the great 
ones of the earth while his life should last, and he wished 
that life to be full, combative, and exciting. 

Well, thaBs all,” he concluded. At least, there’s 
just one thing more that I, as a rather lonely and friend- 
less man, not much given to making confidences, should 
like to have; but I don’t suppose I shall get it.” 

Oh, you have it,” she answered, smiling. If my 
sympathy is of any use, you have it.” * 

For the truth was that he fiattered her immensely by 
choosing her as the recipient of this confidential state- 
ment. How unlike he was to Lionel, who, to be sure, 
had ambition of a kind, but who so evidently preferred 
being ordinary to extraordinary, and who, besides, 
seemed very well able to dispense with her sympathy. 

An incident, which was significant or trivial accord- 
ing to the light in which it might happen to be regarded, 
occurred a few days later, and confirmed her in her irri- 
tated impression that Lionel did not deem her an adviser 
worth consulting. Lady Maria Halsted, who had driven 
over from Chelton, unaccompanied by her granddaugh- 
ter, to take possession of certain trinkets which had been 
bequeathed to her by the late Lord Middlewood, re- 
marked casually that she had met the sportsmen on her 
way, and had had a short talk with them. 

I rather like that Strahan man,” she said; “ he is 
a shrewd fellow and, I should think, less unscrupulous 
than people of that class generally are.” 

What class? ” Marietta inquired. 

There is no actual name for it; but one recognises 
its members when one comes across them. The pushing 
class — the political — colonial — commercial class, I mean. 
I made a point of asking him whether he was prepared to 
support the Aborigines Protection Society, and he assured 


162 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


me that he certainly would, if there were any aborigines 
in his colony to protect. So far as it went, that was 
satisfactory; and I understood him to promise that, in 
the event of his going into Parliament, he would oppose 
those shocking little African wars which are so discredit- 
able to us as a nation. He says the time has come for us 
to turn our attention to Australia, which is already ours, 
instead of robbing these poor black creatures of their 
territory, upon the chance of gold being found in it.” 

But surely Mr. Strahan has no idea of going into 
Parliament,” said Marietta. 

Dear me, yes! Didn’t you know that there is a 
probability of his standing for your husband’s vacant 
seat? Lionel is very anxious that he should; the only 
question seems to be whether the Australians who sent 
him over here will consent. But he has telegraphed for 
instructions, I believe.” 

Marietta was a good deal mortified. Why had she 
been kept in the dark as to a project which had appar- 
ently been mentioned without any thought of secrecy 
to a lady whose lack of discretion was notorious? 

“ Did they tell you all that this morning? ” she 
asked. 

Oh, no,” answered Lady Maria; I heard it from 
Lionel a day or two ago. Of course it is advisable, before 
taking any definite step, to find out how Mr. Strahan’s 
candidature would be likely to be received by the con- 
stituency. That was why I asked him about the abo- 
rigines and the Church Missionary Society and so on. 
Many of my tenants, I am glad to say, are Godfearing 
persons.” 

This explanation scarcely mended matters. I sup- 
pose,” said Marietta, they did not tell me because they 
knew what a matter of absolute indifference the whole 
thing would be to me. I have never been able, and I 
never shall be able, to pretend to the faintest interest 
in politics.” 

Lady Maria thought it her duty to remonstrate. A 
good wife, she pointed out, is always interested — or, at 


THE NEW E^IGIME. 


163 


the very least, pretends to be interested — in what in- 
terests her husband. I do assure you that in my poor, 
dear Halsted’s time, I used to read the money article in 
the newspaper every morning, just in order to be able 
to talk intelligently to him about it.” 

“And did you talk intelligently?” Marietta in- 
quired. 

“Perhaps not; for most of it, I confess, seemed to 
me to be downright gibberish. Still he appreciated the 
effort, and he enjoyed setting me right when I was wrong. 
One must make these little sacrifices; otherwise all sorts 
of distressing things are liable to happen.” 

It says something for Marietta’s self-control that the 
old lady departed, shortly afterwards, mthout having 
been told to mind her own business; but less forbearance 
was manifested towards Lionel when he returned from 
shooting and was beckoned by his wife into the great, 
deserted library. 

“ Do you think,” said she, “ that the first news I 
have of your affairs ought to come to me from outsiders? 
Do you think that anybody is likely to respect me much 
when it is seen that you consider that kind of treatment 
good enough for me?” 

He was completely taken aback; nor was his surprise 
diminished after the nature of her grievance had been 
unfolded to him. 

“ My dear girl,” he exclaimed, “ how was I to guess 
that you would take my silence as a slight! One doesn’t 
talk about these things, because they are best not talked 
about until some decision has been taken; but of course 
you are welcome to know as much as we know — which 
is very little. Strahan has not at all made up his mind 
to stand. Indeed, if old Blathwayt, who has been ap- 
proached, consents to come forward, he won’t even be 
asked.” 

“ Yet you told Lady Maria.” 

“ Well, yes; I did tell granny; and I dare say it was 
rather imprudent of me. But she has ways of getting at 
the voters which are not open to me, and I thought we 


164 


MARIETTA'S MARRIAGE. 


might obtain some idea through her of how the land 
lay/’ 

Oh, I quite understand,” answered Marietta. She 
may be useful, whereas I am useless.” 

I think you must know that that is nonsense. 
Marietta,” said Lionel, his face clouding over a lit- 
tle. 

And if it is? ” she returned, making for the door. 

You wouldn^t wonder at my taking refuge in nonsense 
4f you knew how sick I am of living in a perpetual at- 
mosphere of sober common sense! ” 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

BETTY PAYS ST. QUIYTIN A COMPLIMENT. 

That anybody could really and seriously object to 
living in what Marietta called ‘‘ an atmosphere of com- 
mon sense ” was well-nigh incredible to her vexed and 
puzzled husband. Surely common sense is the one thing 
indispensable for the smooth conduct of earthly affairs, 
and ninety per cent, of the public and domestic troubles 
which afflict humanity are due simply and solely to the 
want of it! In Heaveffls name, what sort of an atmos- 
phere would she prefer? But he answered the question 
for himself, with a shrug of his shoulders and a laugh of 
returning good humour. 

‘^Well, an atmosphere of romance, I imagine,” he 
muttered. After all, that is natural enough, and one 
can’t wonder at it. Besides which, it is only natural, I 
suppose that she should be a little peevish and hard to 
please just now. I’ll go and beg her pardon — though, 
upon my word, I don’t quite know what I am to apolo- 
gise for.” 

Marietta, whom he found extended upon a sofa in her 


BETTY PAYS ST. QUINTIN A COMPLIMENT. 165 


dressing-room, assured him that there was no need for 
apologies. 

It was ridiculous of me to show temper and to feel 
hurt because Lady Maria was better informed than 1 ,” 
she said. “ Why should I care to he well informed about 
Mr. Strahan and his election? 

I remember that you didn’t much care to be in- 
formed about mine/’ observed Lionel; “ I dare say that 
was why it never occurred to me to mention this project 
— which is only a doubtful and conditional one, anyhow 
— to you. I should like to see Strahan in the House, 
and I think myself that if he is offered a chance, 
he would be wise to take it; but he doesn’t seem to be 
particularly keen. Most likely the thing won’t come 
off.” 

Marietta protested complete indifference upon the 
subject with so much apparent sincerity that he was fain 
to do as she presently requested him and talk about some- 
thing else. He did not speak of the inherent beauty 
of common sense, nor of that inevitable disappearance, 
deplored by Schiller and quoted by Colonel Vigne, of 
the romantic element from married life: such topics, 
he perceived, might easily provoke a return of the irri- 
tation which she seemed to have dismissed. He did what 
was a great deal more to the purpose by seating himself 
on a footstool beside the sofa and gazing at her with eyes 
of genuine admiration, while he read out a letter which 
he had just received from the jewellers relating to cer- 
tain family diamonds, which had been sent to them to 
be reset. 

But if this was very nice of him, and if Marietta ap- 
preciated his kindness — as she declared that she did — to 
the extent of freely forgiving him anything that she 
might have to forgive, it by no means followed that she 
was prepared to extend the same magnanimity to a 
confidential friend who had so conspicuously failed to 
take her into his confidence. During dinner, therefore, 
Mr. Strahan’s remarks were pointedly ignored, and not 
until the evening was far advanced did he obtain an op- 


166 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


portunity to inquire of what fresh offence he had been 
guilty. 

But it is all so absolutely uncertain/’ he pleaded, 
when he had been furnished with the desired informa- 
tion. “ I doubt whether my engagements will allow of 
my entering Parliament at all, and even if they did, I am 
bound to give way to This old Mr. Blathwayt, if he con- 
sents to be nominated. He refused last time, it seems, 
because he was over seventy, and because he thought 
that it was your husband’s duty to come forward; but 
we are assured that he would now be returned, unop- 
posed, and a contest is not considered desirable.” 

Consequently,” interrupted Marietta, it seemed 
to you more prudent to refrain from saying a word to 
me until the question was settled, one way or the other. 
That was prudent behaviour, no doubt; but — I don’t 
think it was quite in accordance with our compact.” 

Had they entered into a compact, then? He had 
not been aware of it, and he involuntarily raised his 
eyebrows for an instant. But he hastened to say: 

“ My dear Lady Middlewood, if I were not afraid 
of wearying you, you should be told at full length about 
every humble little iron that I have in the fire. Well, 
I’ll be honest; I dare say you wouldn’t mind being told, 
and it’s a poor compliment to a friend to suspect of her 
being wearied in that way. But a compact ought not 
to be all on one side. If I am to lay bare the innermost 
secrets of my heart, I may fairly ask to hear something 
in return, may I not? ” 

Marietta averred that she had no secrets. 

Well, but you have joys and troubles and anxieties 
and so forth which are, at all events, secrets to me. Or 
you will have them. And perhaps you sometimes feel 
a wish to impart them to somebody — or you will feel it.” 

She smiled and inclined her head slightly. Thus 
was concluded a treaty which presented many of the 
features of an offensive and defensive alliance, and which 
was obviously not free from peril for one of the con- 
tracting parties. 


BETTY PAYS ST. QUINTIN A COMPLIMENT. 167 


Marietta, however, took no immediate step towards 
the fulfilment of her part of the bargain. In a certain 
sense Strahan had become her friend; but he continued, 
as he had done from the outset, to repel almost as much 
as he had attracted her, and she did not as yet feel pre- 
pared to tell him in so many words that she was disap- 
pointed and disenchanted with her lot. That, for the 
time being, her life must he desperately dull Lionel per- 
ceived and acknowledged: of course it could not be very 
amusing for her to he left quite alone from morning 
to night in that vast, empty house. But the difficulty 
was that she had practically no intimate of her own 
sex, except Betty, and there was a tacit understanding to 
the effect that the former mistress of the househeld 
had better not he asked to stay until the new mistress 
should have established herself a little more firmly 
in the saddle. To give up a day’s shooting now and 
then was a measure of heroic self-sacrifice which, it 
must be owned, did not suggest itself to the proprie- 
tor of the famous Middlewood moors. Mot until the 
weather suddenly broke, and became wet, cold and 
stormy did he and his companions reluctantly recognise 
that they had done about as much execution as they 
were likely to do over dogs that season; and even then 
they showed no disposition to spend their time in- 
doors. 

One morning, when a report had been brought in 
that the birds were already packing, Lionel made up 
his mind to attend a meeting of local Conservatives at 
which it was expected that Mr. Blathwayt’s decision 
would he announced, and Strahan, after some hesitation, 
agreed to accompany him. 

And what will you do ? ” asked Marietta of St. 
Quintin, with whom she was still as unable as ever to 
hit it off, and who, to tell the truth, did not particularly 
relish the prospect of sharing her solitude. 

I thought of driving over to Chelton to pay my re- 
spects to Lady Maria,” he answered. Lionel said I 
could have a dog-cart, and there are some things belong- 


168 


MAEIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


ing to her, I believe, which she forgot to take away with 
her when she was last here.” 

Lady Middlewood offered no opposition to this 
project, nor did she (as in his heart he had been half 
afraid that she would) suggest that her own daily after- 
noon drive might take the same direction. So he envel- 
oped himself in an ulster, made for the stables, and was 
soon bowling at a rapid pace up hill and down dale, 
through the wind and the rain. Lady Maria would give 
him some luncheon, he supposed; hut if she didn% he 
had no objection to dispensing with that meal, whereas 
he did rather particularly object — ^it was useless to deny 
it — to the unrelieved society of his hostess. St. Quintin 
was a just man, and as free from prejudice as most of us; 
hut he had his very distinct likes and dislikes, and he 
was not more fond of Lady Middlewood than she was 
of him. 

For Betty Mallet, on the other hand, he entertained 
sentiments of friendship which he hoped were recipro- 
cated. It was, therefore, a great pleasure to him, on 
nearing his destination, to recognise that young lady, 
marching ahead of him, with a fox-terrier at her heels, a 
gun over her shoulder, and bulging pockets which told 
their own tale. 

Rabbiting? ” he asked, after greetings had been 
exchanged and he had explained that he was on his way 
to deliver certain packages to Lady Maria. 

As you see,” she replied. You might give the 
reins to William and walk as far as the house with me, 
if you were inclined to he civil. The fact is,” she added, 
lowering her voice, when St. Quintin had promptly com- 
plied with this request, “ that I would just a tiny little 
bit rather not he seen entering the house in this get-up 
without your protection. Not that I am afraid of granny 
or anybody — pray don’t imagine such a thing of me! 
Still she won’t say much before you, and if one can man- 
age to avoid a scolding, why shouldn’t one, you know? ” 

What is wrong with your get-up? ” asked St. Quin- 
tin. I should call it a very becoming one.” 


BETTY PAYS ST. QUINTIN A COMPLIMENT. 169 


“ Well, it’s serviceable; but it’s rather too short in the 
skirt to be what granny would call becoming. I am sup- 
posed to be almost, if not quite, grown-up now, you see, 
and her notion of what is becoming in grown-up people 
is that they should ruin their gowns when they go out 
rabbit-shooting. Supposing, that is, that it could possi- 
bly be becoming on their part to fire off a gun at all.” 

“ You must give your grandmother some anxious mo- 
ments,” remarked St. Quintin meditatively. 

H’m! — maybe. But it’s about as broad as it’s long; 
for she gives me a good deal of anxiety, too. Anyhow, 
I’m an immense blessing to her. Oh, not a blessing in 
disguise — a positive, tangible blessing, as she herself ad- 
mits when she is in good humour. We thoroughly ap- 
preciate one another, mind you, in spite of occasional 
differences; and we haven’t, either of us, got many peo- 
ple left to care for now.” 

St. Quintin glanced at the girl beside him, thinking 
to himself how pretty she was, how charming, and, judged 
by ordinary standards, how fortunate; yet, for some rea- 
sons, how much to be pitied! Some great match would 
doubtless be arranged for her ere long, and if she de- 
clined the first candidate, she would have to accept the 
second, or the third, or the fourth. For the moment, 
while nominally under tutelage, she was practically free 
to do as she pleased: nominal liberty would probably re- 
duce her to practical servitude. Weighed down by her 
money-bags, she would be unable to dart aside from the 
course which led to high social position, and strong 
though her will was, she would find that circumstances 
were even stronger. 

You will be coming out next season, I suppose,” 
he remarked presently. 

Yes, I believe so. I am not exactly looking forward 
to it; for I hate London, and there is something particu- 
larly offensive to me in the sort of bad manners which 
smart women affect. Still, as the thing has to be done, 
it may as well be done properly. Imagine the cheek 
of that old Grace, who has been preaching to granny. 


170 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


and has almost persuaded her that a presentation and a 
fortnight in town will suffice! It is so important, he 
says, that the young should not he inoculated with a 
taste for godless frivolity! ” 

Well, you say that you hate London,’^ observed 
St. Quintin. 

Yes; but it doesn’t follow that I am to take in- 
structions from him. If I did, I should soon begin to 
hate the country into the bargain; for he is conscien- 
tiously opposed to sport in every form. In fact, I have 
seen for some time past that it will be necessary to get 
rid of Grace. How does one get rid of a beneficed clergy- 
man who would never dream of undertaking missionary 
work, and who has no chance of promotion ? ” 

St. Quintin shook his head. The thing can’t be 
done, I’m afraid,” he answered. Unless a man resigns 
his living, there is no way of removing him from it. 
Flagrant misconduct, such as intoxication during divine 
service, may bring about inhibition or suspension, I be- 
lieve; but I presume that Mr. Grace is not very likely 
to be guilty of that.” 

Well, I don’t know,” said Betty pensively; one 
might try. He is very fond of port. Anyhow, go he 
must; for this place really isn’t large enough to hold 
him and me. It is a pretty place, don’t you think so? ” 
she added. Much prettier than poor old Middle- 
wood.” 

The rain had ceased; shafts of sunlight had broken 
through the clouds; flying shadows were sweeping across 
the hills and the lake, which lay beneath the old gray 
house, with its smooth lawns and its bright-coloured 
flower-beds. Chelton was undoubtedly a very pretty 
place, and St. Quintin could not help thinking that 
before very long it would be inhabited, if not actually 
owned, by somebody who would have an extremely pretty 
wife. V 

“Yes; you have a goodly heritage,” he returned, 
with something of a sigh. 

“ Oh, what a nasty thing to say! ” exclaimed the girl. 


BETTY PAYS ST. QUINTIN A COMPLIMENT. 1^1 


"' Grace himself couldn’t have said a nastier thing! Hap- 
pily? granny is as hard as nails, and I have every rea- 
son to hope that I shall inherit nothing from her until 
I am middle-aged. Why do you laugh? Do you think 
I want to be left absolutely alone in the world? I sup- 
pose your idea is that I shall marry. Well, that is just 
where you are mistaken. I shall not be such an idiot 
as to surrender my liberty in a hurry, I can tell you! 
The only man who could tempt me would be some quiet, 
submissive little creature — an invalid, for choice — who 
would do exactly as he was told, and never get in the 
way when he wasn’t wanted.” 

" Such a man w'ould he the very worst possible hus- 
band for you,” St. Quintin declared decisively. " On the 
contrary, what you want is a kind, but firm master, 
who ” 

"Oh, Lord! oh. Lord;” interrupted Betty; "come 
in to lunch before I shoot you where you stand! It’s 
very evident to me what you want; a long, shiny black 
coat and a white choker would make you quite complete. 
Now I’m going to slink round to a side-door, while you 
go in and smooth down granny, who, I know, has been 
taking stock of my costume from her bedroom window.” 

Lady Maria had, in truth, been so employed, and 
for the next quarter of an hour St. Quintin had his 
work cut out to persuade her that garments which would 
have been considered shockingly unfeminine twenty or 
thirty years ago are no longer disproved of in the best 
families. He also (on being consulted) ventured to doubt 
whether it would be wise to enforce too rigid an observ- 
ance of Evangelical principles upon a young lady who 
did not seem as yet to be drawn in that direction. 

" Ah, well ! ” said Lady Maria, with what sounded 
very like a sigh of relief, " that’s just what I tell poor, 
dear Mr. Grace. One would wish everybody to he con- 
verted; hut one can’t shut one’s eyes to the fact that most 
people aren’t; and for those who aren’t — well, one must 
do the best one can, that’s all. My feeling is that the 
girl ought to have her London season, in spite of our 
12 


172 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


mourning. How is she to discover the hollowness and 
emptiness of such things with no experience of them? 

How indeed ? ” 

No doubt, if it came to that, Clara Gosport or Mari- 
etta would take her out; hut then I should really feel 
that I was neglecting my plain duty. I am sure her dear 
father would not have wished me to confide her to Mari- 
etta for her first season.” 

I don’t think he would,” said St. Quintin. 

Lady Maria pricked up her ears. “ You have the 
same impression of Marietta that he had; you suspect 
that she is capable of follies — is that what you mean ? ” 

“ I am not very well acquainted with Lady Mid- 
dlewood. I have no reason to suspect her of anything,” 
answered St. Quintin stolidly. “ But perhaps she is 
rather too young and rather too new to London society 
for — for the purpose that you speak of.” 

Betty’s entrance was a relief to him; for he did not 
wish to he questioned respecting a lady whose proceed- 
ings, so far as he had been enabled to take note of them, 
had inspired him with no very great confidence. He had 
less difficulty in replying to the numerous queries which 
were addressed to him, during luncheon, about Mr. Stra- 
han, in whom both Lady Maria and her granddaughter 
seemed to take a lively interest. Fortunately, there were 
plenty of interesting things which could be said about 
Strahan without risk of compromising that gentleman’s 
reputation. 

‘^And when,” asked Betty, who strolled out to the 
front door to take leave of the guest, will one see you 
again? You will he coming down to Middlewood some 
time in the autumn or winter, I suppose ? ” 

Well — if I’m asked, and if my chief can spare me,” 
answered St. Quintin. 

Get your chief to spare you, and I’ll undertake that 
you shall he asked. You may not he all that I could wish 
— occasionally you say things which make me long to box 
your ears — still, upon the whole, you remain the most 
satisfactory member of my select circle of friends. So, 


BENIGNA DIVA PRIFORMIS. 


173 


if you don’t come down here to please yourself, come to 
please me.” 

A saturnine butler and two tall footmen in mourn- 
ing livery were privileged to listen to this flattering 
declaration, which did not cause them to move a muscle, 
but which brought a faint flush to St. Quintin’s ingenu- 
ous cheek. 

If I come to these parts again soon, it will certainly 
be to please myself,” he answered. 

Then he climbed into the dogcart and drove away, 
wondering idly whether it would not be a very pleas- 
ant thing to be one of those young sprigs of nobility of 
whom Miss Mallet would ere long be invited to take her 
choice. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

BENIGNA DIVA PRIFOEMIS. 

St. Quintin returned to ^Uddlewood to find Lionel 
and Strahan already back from their meeting, which, 
it appeared, had not had quite the result anticipated 
and desired by the late member. 

Blathwayt yields to the representations of his 
friends,” Lionel announced. He fears that the state 
of his health will not permit of very active political 
work, and he thinks it not impossible that, owing to 
the same cause, he may be compelled to resign his seat 
before the expiration of the present Parliament. Sub- 
ject to the drawbacks, however, and in the absence of 
any more robust candidate, he is willing to come for- 
ward; and it only remains for him to assure us that such 
measure of health and strength as may yet be granted to 
him will, etc., etc. I must confess to being a little dis- 
appointed; but, of course, there was nothing to be done 
but to shake the old boy by the hand and join in the 
general cheering.” 


174 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Perhaps,” observed Marietta, who was pouring out 
tea, he will die soon.” 

“Pm afraid that isn’t at all unlikely,” answered 
her husband. One doesn’t want the poor old man to 
die; but I should be glad to see him retire. Let us hope 
that one session may suffice to sicken him of West- 
minster. Then we shall know where to look for a suit- 
able person to replace him — or, at least, I hope we shall.” 

The last words, which had a slightly interrogative 
reflection, drew no immediate reply from Mr. Strahan, 
who was placidly munching buttered toast and who diet 
not appear to participate in the disappointment to wffiich 
Lionel had owned. Presently, however, he remarked: 

You will find a candidate without having to look 
quite as far as Australia for him, I imagine.” 

My dear fellow,” said Lionel, you aren’t going 
back to Australia.” 

Am I not? I expect I am, though! For the next 
few months, no doubt, my services will be required in 
London; but after that it will behove me to go and see 
that certain steps which have been approved of and 
sanctioned are taken. Besides, I really want to go. It’s 
better to be a personage in ever so remote a part of the 
globe than to be only one of a crowd in the centre of 
civilisation.” 

On my own behalf, and on that of your numer- 
ous friends in this country, I beg to thank you for your 
very flattering sentiments,” said Lionel. “ It doesn’t 
follow that, because you can leave us without a pang — ” 

Oh, I didn’t say that,” interrupted Strahan. 

Well, it doesn’t follow that, because you are pre- 
pared to leave us even with a pang, you will consult your 
own interests by doing so. It is all very fine to talk 
about being a personage out there, but you must know 
very well that you are bound to be a personage, wherever 
you are.” 

The fact was that young Lord Middlewood had 
formed a very high opinion indeed of the capacity of his 
friend. That may have been, and probably was, in some 


BENIGNA DIVA PRIFORMIS. 


175 


degree, because Strahan was an excellent shot and a 
good judge of a horse; but the secretary of the new com- 
pany had had other opportunities of proving his ability 
to one who was too conscientious a man to join the di- 
rectorate without having gone pretty thoroughly into 
the company’s affairs. 

Strahan laughed, and said Thank you; ” while St. 
Quintin observed, a little ungraciously, that no particu- 
lar distinction was involved in being a member of Par- 
liament, and that, for his own part, he should think 
that a man whose interests were connected with the 
Colonies would best consult them by definitely accepting 
a colonial career. 

“ Quite so; nothing can be more self-evident,” agreed 
Strahan good-humouredly. “ Meanwhile, 1 must get 
back to London and work without further loss of time. 
Isn’t there a train somewhere about eleven o’clock to- 
morrow morning? ” 

Marietta, with a quick movement of impatience, had 
risen from her chair and now left the room. She was 
angry wuth St. Quintin, whose misfortune it was to strike 
her as impertinent almost every time that he opened his 
lips; but she was also displeased with Strahan, and in 
the course of the evening she took occasion to make him 
aware of her displeasure. 

Amongst the glories of Middlewood was an enormous 
and, to tell the truth, excessively ugly palm-house, which 
was sometimes lighted up at night, and whither, on that 
evening, Lionel suggested that the after-dinner coffee 
and cigarettes should be taken. Whether Lady Middle- 
wood, when she got up, after a time, and strolled away to 
the far end of this vast structure, intended one of the 
gentlemen to follow her or not could, of course, only be 
a matter for conjecture; but at all events, one of them 
did. He had a reason for taking that liberty, he said; 
he wished to explain (in obedience to treaty obligations) 
why he had accepted with philosophy, not to say satis- 
faction, the candidature of Mr. Blathwayt. He would 
have been ready, it appeared, to enter Parliament, had 


176 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


a chance which was not very likely to recnr in a hnrry 
been offered to him; but at the same time, he was any- 
thing but convinced that to do so would have been to 
his advantage. He was proceeding to give some highly 
interesting details respecting the state Of public affairs 
on the other side of the world when Marietta ruthlessly 
swept them away with a wave of her hand. 

As if all that could possibly signify! ” she ex- 
claimed. 

Well,” said Sttahan, looking a little hurt, for once, 
you told me that you wished to hear about the things 
that are of importance to me. Otherwise, of course, I 
should never have presumed to inflict them upon you.” 

Oh, vei'y well! ” she retiirned impatiently, go on 
with yout dreadful statistics, then. Since you say they 
are important, one must assume that they are so — to you. 
Though I must Say I agree with Lionel in wondering 
that you should care so much more for such dry subjects 
than you do for your friends.” 

I donT think he accused me of that, did he? He 
pretended to think that I should leave England and all 
my friends here without a pang — which was absurd 
upon the face of it.” 

You said that you wanted to go.” 

Yes — well — I supposed I do want to go. Why 
not ? ” 

Without any consideration for the head gardener’s 
feelings, Marietta broke the leading shoot off a rare 
tropical shrub. “ It is perfectly natural that you should 
wish to go,” she answered. “At the same time, such 
speeches are scarcely of a kind to arouse the enthusiastic 
sympathy of those whom you propose to leave behind 
you.” 

“ Ah, my dear Lady Middlewood, you don’t under- 
stand! If you did, you would be able to sympathise, though 
you might not be enthusiastic about it. But I won’t 
attempt to make my position more clear; I will only 
ask you to believe what is the truth, that my friendship 
for you is not a mere question of propinquity.” 


BENIGNA DIVA PRIFORMIS. 


177 


Marietta mused over this assurance for a minute, 
and then remarked: Well, that has the sound of being 
a noble sentiment; but I am afraid I can’t quite rise to it. 
I am afraid that, for any comfort I should be likely to 
get out of a friend in the southern hemisphere, he might 
as well be dead.” 

But Strahan was not in the southern hemisphere yet, 
nor was it at all certain that his possible return thither 
would imply permanent banishment. “ Anyhow,” he 
added, with a laugh, I trust I shall be neither on the 
other side of the world nor dead in December next, at 
which time I am kindly invited to visit Ludworth and 
do a few days’ hunting.” 

He was cheerful and pleasant and kindly; he went 
on talking after a fashion which was evidently intended 
to put her in a better humour; he obstinately refused to 
see that she was incensed against him or that she had 
any cause for being so. 

Well, perhaps that was the proper way for a friend 
to behave, and perhaps she would have resented any 
other sort of behaviour. Nevertheless, nothing is more 
provocative of feminine resentment than the sense of 
having been deprived of any tangible offence to resent, 
and Marietta, when she had retired to the stately and 
rather dreary rooms set apart for her use, said to herself 
that, after all, she was by no means sure that she liked 
the man. Upon further reflection, she was able to ac- 
cuse him of at least one genuine offence, in the shape of 
his apparently complete freedom from anxiety respecting 
her health. He could not be ignorant of the ordeal 
through which she must soon pass, and though conven- 
tionality might forbid him to allude to it, he might sure- 
ly have contrived to let her see that he felt for her. He 
had said laughingly that he hoped to be alive in Decem- 
ber; but it was upon the cards — quite upon the cards — 
that she would not. Had he so much as thought of that? 
If not, what was his friendship worth? 

St. Quintin, had he been consulted, would probably 
have told her that Mr. Strahan’s friendship was worth 


178 


MAKIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


nothing at all — if, indeed, it ought not to he regarded 
in the light of a minus quantity. But the opinion of 
that prejudiced observer was not asked; nor, in truth, 
was he very well qualified to judge; for like many other 
strictly honest and honourable men, he was apt to as- 
sume that his fellow-creatures must needs he either good 
fellows or scoundrels. And it had never been in his 
power to consider Strahan a good fellow. 

Lionel, on the other hand, had no hesitation in 
thus qualifying both of his guests, who caused him sin- 
cere sorrow by departing together the next morning. 
He stood, with his hands in his pockets, at the front door, 
gazing rather ruefully after them, and then asked his 
wife, Well, what’s to be done now? ” 

So far as he was concerned, there were plenty of 
things to be done, and his days were not likely to be 
idle; but that, as Marietta understood, was not his mean- 
ing. 

It can’t be helped,” she answered, in a somewhat 
despondent tone of voice. The house is horribly big 
and empty; but we couldn’t ask people to stay now — and 
I shouldn’t like to have them if we could.” 

We might have granny.” 

Oh, not yet, please! She would worry my life out. 
Later, I suppose, she must come.” Marietta paused and 
then exclaimed suddenly, Oh, how I hate it all! It is 
wicked of me, I suppose; but I do! ” 

Lionel comforted her to the best of his ability; and 
really his ability in that direction was not small; for his 
love for his wife had suffered no diminution, and it was 
impossible to doubt the sincerity of his sympathy. She 
would doubtless have been a far happier woman, had he, 
as a general rule, been a little more demonstrative; but 
it was not in his nature to be that, nor could he under- 
stand why, when he had once said a thing, anybody 
should want him to go on repeating it. 

What he regretted more and more, as the days wore 
on, was that Marietta had no intimate friend of her own 
sex. Betty was a mere child. Lady Maria could only be 


BENIGNA DIVA PEIFORMIS. 


179 


looked upon as a pis-aller, and for himself, it was simply 
impossible that he should be much at home. A certain 
great landowner, on being requested to accept a post 
of responsibility, is said to have excused himself upon 

the plea that it took him all his time to he Duke of , 

and although Lionel’s possessions and interests were not 
so vast as those of the nobleman in question, he soor 
found that, if he was to do his duty, not much leisun 
would remain to him for amusement. It may not have 
been, strictly speaking, a duty to run over to Newmarket 
or to devote a day or two to grouse-driving; still it would 
have been a pity to neglect such occupations altogether. 
And so, what with one thing and another. Lady Middle- 
wood’s life became a deplorably solitary one. 

To do her justice, she did not audibly complain, 
though she had some hitter thoughts. She recognised 
that there was no help for this rather unfortunate and 
depressing state of affairs, and when, in the autumn, 
Lionel suggested that there would now be no lack of re- 
spect for his father’s memory in asking a few people to 
come for the shooting — the Gosports, for instance, and 
one or two others whom she knew pretty well — she begged 
him not to do so. 

“ I am so accustomed now to living like a hermit 
crab,” she said, that I should feel quite nervous and un- 
comfortable if I had to entertain anybody.” 

Hermit crabs,” observed Lionel, inhabit shells 
which don’t belong to them.” 

I suppose that accounts for my feeling like one. 
Anyhow, my only wish is to hide myself until — until I 
can go about again as usual.” 

Would she ever go about again? It was a very natu- 
ral misgiving, which pressed upon her the more because 
she was fain to keep it to herself. Once or twice she had 
alluded to it in talking to Lionel, who had laughed at 
her in the boisterous manner affected by those who are 
really apprehensive and who are quite determined not 
to admit that they are so. Lionel, she supposed, would 
he sorry if she were to die, and so, no doubt, would her 


180 


MAEIETTA’S MAKRIAGE. 


father; but both of them would certainly be consoled 
within a year, and nobody else would care a pin. Sitting 
alone in her silent boudoir, or driving through the now 
yellowing woods on chilly afternoons, it occurred to her 
again and again that life is only a grim, ugly jest. 
Horses, carriages, diamonds, sables — all those things 
which look so enviable from afar lose their attraction al- 
most as soon as they can be had for the asking; and in 
spite of wealth and rank, one may at any moment have 
to die, like the humblest washerwoman. Sooner or later, 
indeed, one must die. But these melancholy reflections 
upon human destiny, which, without being precisely 
novel, yet strike most of us occasionally in the light of a 
startling discovery, had to be abandoned on the arrival 
of the inevitable Lady Maria, full of joyous anticipation 
and equipped at all points for the performance of her 
part on an interesting occasion. The old lady was so 
cheerful and so confldent both in herself and in the 
special protection which Providence could not fail to 
extend to Lord Middlewood’s wife that her presence 
proved, after all, to be more of a comfort than a worry. 

My dear child, there is not the slightest occasion 
for nervousness,^’ she declared; if there had been, we 
should have known of it before now. Everything will 
go as smoothly as possible, you will see.” 

Perhaps she contributed a little towards the fulfil- 
ment of her own prediction: in any case, things did pass 
off with tolerable smoothness, and on a wild, gusty morn- 
ing of late autumn Marietta had the pride of knowing 
that she had furnished an important family with an heir 
to whose physical proportions no exceptions could be 
taken. Such achievements may or may not be a legiti- 
mate cause for pride; but, as everybody knows, they gen- 
erally are productive of it, together with other and ten- 
derer emotions against which there is nothing to be said. 
During the quiet, uninterrupted period of convalescence 
which followed, Marietta was — almost for the first time 
in her life — placidly contented. She was, after all, a 
woman, if a somewhat wayward, unstable and potentially 


STRAHAN IS A LITTLE PUZZLED. 


181 


unprincipled one; she was delighted with her baby and 
very well pleased with her husband, who was now unre- 
mitting in his attentions — besides being the baby’s father. 

I have always thought,” remarked Betty, that 
one of the chief drawbacks of matrimony was the risk 
of having a lot of children; but now I begin to see that 
it is quite the proper thing to have one. I never saw any- 
body look much happier than you do now, or more thor- 
oughly miserable than you did a short time ago. It cer- 
tainly seems to make a difference.” • 

Well, yes,” agreed Marietta, smiling, “ I believe 
you are right, it does make a difference.” 


CHAPTER XX. 

STRAHAN IS A LITTLE PUZZLED. 

What can be more delightful to a man who loves 
hunting, but can not afford to keep hunters, than to 
find himself speeding northwards in an express train on 
a mild, misty day of mid-winter, and to reflect that he 
is bound for the house of a wealthy and hospitable friend, 
who may be counted upon to provide him with as good 
a mount as money can buy? Supposing that such a man 
had been for many weeks past bard at work day and 
night, beneath the perpetual pall of London smoke 
and fog, his enjoyment of the prospect before him would 
naturally be enhanced, while his satisfaction would be 
rendered complete by the thought that his discarded 
labours had produced every good result that had been 
expected of them. 

Roland Strahan, therefore, when he set out, shortly 
before Christmas, to keep an engagement of which he 
had more than once been reminded by letter, was in a 
mood to be very generous to railway-guards, and as amia- 


182 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


ble as possible to the world at large. The world at large 
had, indeed, treated him so well of late that the least 
he could do was to turn a smiling countenance upon it. 
Everything was going admirably with him; the company 
was fairly launched upon a career which promised to be 
long and glorious; his latest advices from Australia were 
not only most encouraging from a financial point of 
view, but highly flattering to him personally; he had 
made some notable additions to the circle of his acquaint- 
ances in England, and had been given to understand 
pretty plainly that (in acknowledgment of certain valu- 
able information and facilities which he had been 
enabled to provide) he might rely upon support in in- 
fluential quarters, should he ever stand in need thereof. 
In short, there was something more than a possibility of 
his becoming within a few years both rich and powerful. 
That, so far as he knew, was the summit of his ambition. 
If life has anything better to offer than riches and power, 
he was quite willing to dispense with that better thing. 
Health, of course, is indispensable; but he had always 
been so absolutely healthy that it no more occurred to 
him to congratulate himself upon the possession of that 
essential boon than it does to the generality of us to re- 
turn thanks because we were not born deaf and dumb. 
In the meantime, everything led him to believe that he 
had a very pleasant week or ten days to look forward to. 
He was going (so he had been told) to form one of a 
rather large house-party, which included several persons 
whom it might prove to his advantage to meet; he had a 
sincere liking for Lionel, and as for Lady Middlewood, 
about whom he had not of late had leisure to think much 
or often, the prospect of renewing friendly relations with 
her was by no means unwelcome to him. 

A faint smile of amusement curved the usually firm 
set of his lips as he leant back in the railway-car- 
riage and pictured Marietta to himself under her new 
aspect of the young mother. Would the heir-appar- 
ent be prominently brought forward, he wonderd, or 
accepted, as Lady Middlewood was wont to accept her 


STRAHAN IS A LITTLE PUZZLED. 


183 


other possessions, with disdainful and dissatisfied tolera- 
tion? 

What gives women a certain interest as a study,” 
mused this heart-whole philosopher, is that no living 
being can tell what they will make of any given event, 
or what it will make of them. That renders them devil- 
ish awkward to deal with, though! Lady Middlewood 
is charming; but — I donT think I particularly want to 
change places with Middlewood.” 

He did not, at that moment, want to change places 
with anybody; he was not even impatient to fill the 
higher and more lucrative place to which he himself 
aspired and was justified in aspiring; he had wisdom 
enough to know that joy consists in pursuit, not in attain- 
ment, and the pursuit of the fox, amongst others, had 
immense attractions for him. 

So it was a gentleman of amiable and prepossessing 
aspect who was shown into the library at Ludworth, 
where a considerable number of people were grouped in 
the neighbourhood of the fire-place, drinking tea. His 
hostess did not chance to be present; but Lionel, who 
stepped forward to shake him cordially by the hand, in- 
troduced him to such of his fellow-guests as he did not 
already know, and the impression that he produced 
upon these was a decidedly favourable one. Strahan’s 
manner had that mixture of assured ease and simplicity 
which is generally held to be characteristic of good breed- 
ing, and although, in his case, breeding had not very 
much to do with it, he knew' as well as anybody what to 
say and how to behave in such company as he had just 
joined. He knew also (for he deemed the acquisition of 
social information most important, and never missed an 
opportunity of adding to his store thereof) something 
about each of the ladies and gentlemen whose bows he 
returned. As most of them were more or less distin- 
guished persons, it was easy enough to know something 
about them; but Strahan knew things which were not 
known to all the world. This enabled him not only to 
avoid blunders but to convey the suggestion that he was 


184 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


by no means the outsider he might appear to them to he. 
For the rest, he had no air of desiring to thrust himself 
forward; he merely claimed the recognition which was 
at once conceded to him, and which would have been 
refused, perhaps, to a more diffident stranger. 

He did not see Lady Middlewood until just before 
dinner, when she extended a friendly, hut scarcely effu- 
sive greeting to him. She was looking superb in her 
black satin and her flashing diamonds; sincerely as 
Strahan had always admired her, he had never until 
that moment realised how great her beauty was. She 
was changed, moreover — changed alike in manner and 
in expression, both of which were almost radiant. Stra- 
han, who, during dinner, could scarcely keep his eyes 
off her, said to himself that if this was the effect of 
having become a mother, his notions respecting her lady- 
ship would have to be modified. 

She was by way of having missed her vocation,” 
he thought; is it possible that she can have found it 
after this ludicrously commonplace fashion? ” 

His neighbour, a plain, weatherbeaten, little woman, 
whose husband was one of the magnates of the turf, no- 
ticed the direction in which his glances kept straying 
and said: Isn’t she quite magnificent! Ho wonder Lord 
Middlewood is such a devoted husband.” 

“ Is his devotion so conspicuous? ” asked Strahan. 

Oh, dear, yes! Just watch his face if she sings 
this evening, as she probably will. It is a pity that -she 
doesn’t hunt and doesn’t care for racing, though.” 

Perhaps she will learn.” 

Well, I hope so, for her sake; because I don’t believe 
it is in the nature of any man to go on caring for any 
woman who doesn’t like the things that he likes. An 
unfortunate cousin of mine married a man who had a 
craze for astronomy — a quiet, grubby old thing of forty, 
who, one would have thought, was simply incapable of 
scandalous behaviour. Well, just because she couldn’t 
see the difference between one star and another and 
couldn’t bring herself to take an interest in their ways 


STKAHAN IS A LITTLE PUZZLED. 185 


of waltzing about the heavens_, what did that old mis- 
creant do but elope, one tine morning, with a hatchet- 
faced spinster who had fallen into the habit of visiting 
his observatory. Luckily for me I was born in close 
proximity to a racing-stable and I have ridden to hounds 
ever since I was the height of this chair; so my husband 
continues — I won’t say to adore me, but to think me one 
of the right sort.” 

There is no danger of his eloping, then.” 

Oh, he won’t elope; he isn’t as young as he was, 
and he knows it wouldn’t be good enough. I dare say 
Lord Middlewood, whom I suspect of being a bit of a 
puritan at heart, though he is an excellent fellow, won’t 
elope either. But ” 

“ But what ? ” 

Don’t invite me to say libellous things, please. I 
only maintain that a wife who doesn’t adopt her hus- 
band’s tastes will lose his affection sooner or later, and 
there are women who can’t endure a man whose affec- 
tion they have lost.” 

Now, this did not seem to Strahan to manifest any 
special acuteness or much knowledge of the lady whose 
case was under discussion. If Marietta had not actually 
told him that she w^as not in love with her husband, she 
had allowed him to infer as much, and he had difficulty 
in believing that any coldness on Lionel’s part would 
tempt her to throw away a position which she undoubt- 
edly appreciated, notwithstanding her frequent intima- 
tions that she found it a bore. 

. Still, as he himself had reflected earlier in the day, 
one never can tell what a woman will do or not do, and it 
was with somewhat quickened interest that he ap- 
proached Marietta on the termination of the song with 
which, as he had been led to expect, she subsequently 
favoured a spell-bound audience. Of the quality of the 
singer’s voice and the merits of the composition, his total 
lack of musical ear prevented him from forming any 
opinion; but he gathered from the admiring comments 
of his neighbours that both were of a high order, and he 


186 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


did not fail to pay his tribute of applause where applause 
was so evidently due. 

And I have other subjects upon which to con- 
gratulate you/^ he added, after she had moved away 
from the piano and had invited him by a slight gesture 
to seat himself beside her on a sofa. 

The baby, you mean? Yes, he is really an en- 
chanting baby; though I suppose I ought not to say so.’^ 

Nobody is more clearly entitled to say so. But I 
was not thinking of him at the moment; I was thinking 
of the enormous and unmistakable improvement in your 
spirits. Your opinion of the world and its inhabitants 
has changed a little for the better since I saw you last, 
has it not? 

She glanced at him half defiantly. ^^What if it 
has?’’ she returned. 1 was miserable at Middlewood, 
which must he the most melancholy house in England, 
I think, and I was all alone there. Here the rooms are 
pretty and bright, and I have people to talk to.” 

Yet you don’t hunt, I am sorry to hear; and hunt- 
ing people, as a rule, have only one topic of conversa- 
tion.” 

“ You have more than one; and so has Sir George 
Burroughes, who is — what is he? — First Lord of the 
Admiralty, or War Minister, or something. At all 
events, he amuses me; and even if he didn’t, I should 
always have baby — and Lionel.” 

This was really a little startling; possibly it was 
meant to he so. Hoes she wish me to understand,” 
though Strahan, ^^that, having become tardily alive to 
her husband’s transcendent merits, she has no further 
need of a confidential friend? ” In spite of himself, he 
was slightly piqued, and he became more so when it 
transpired that she had not particularly missed him dur- 
ing their late period of separation. 

You have been in London, haven’t you?” she 
asked, frowning, as if in a vain effort to recollect who he 
was and what he was likely to have been about. “ How 
hideous London must be at this time of year! But you 


STRAHAN IS A LITTLE PUZZLED. 187 

will enjoy a few days with the hounds now. You are 
going out to-morrow, I suppose.” 

‘‘ Yes, I am going out to-morrow,” he answered, look- 
ing steadily at her, and I certainly hope to enjoy my- 
self. My object in coming here was, of course, to hunt 
and to enjoy myself.” 

She smiled pleasantly and turned her beautiful head 
away to speak to somebody else, who had drawn near. 
What, he wondered, was she driving at? No man ever 
quite understands such feminine tactics, as adopted to- 
wards himself (although when employed in the case 
of another man, they are seen to be of an elementary 
simplicity); but Strahan, who was cool and shrewd and 
not wholly devoid of experience, suspected that Lady 
Middlewood wished to provoke him. 

To escape being provoked, he quitted her side, and 
was presently beckoned across the room by Betty, who 
had come over from Chelton on a flying visit. Betty 
was very glad to renew acquaintance with him and very 
full of sporting talk. They were sure of a run on the 
morrow, she told him, and he would be sure of seeing 
it; for she had ascertained that Lionel was going to put 
him up on Bullet. 

The very best horse he has, in my opinion,” she 
added. You will And him a little hit quick at his 
fences; hut he won’t make any mistakes, if you let him 
go his own pace, and it’s impossible to tire him.” 

In due course Betty’s prediction was fulfllled, and 
her respect for Mr. Strahan became greatly enhanced 
after she had watched his performance in the fleld, which 
gave evidence of pluck as well as judgment. Her own 
performance had been admirable, and he took the lib- 
erty of telling her so, while they were jogging home- 
wards, side by side, at the end of the day. 

“ Well, I believe I am improving,” answered the girl, 
few seasons ago I used to ride like a lunatic; hut 
I had one or two tremendous croppers, which my poor 
dear father, luckily, never heard of, and now I know 
rather more than I did. However, I have always been 
13 


188 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


well mounted, you see, and I suppose I always shall be; 
so that there isn’t much real chance of my covering 
myself with glory.” 

Betty’s modesty was perhaps a trifle exaggerated. 
Anyhow, after making due deductions for the undeniable 
advantages which she possessed, Strahan, at the end of 
three days came to the conclusion that she was the best 
lady-rider he had ever beheld. There were several packs 
of hounds within reach, and for three consecutive days 
he was enabled to admire Miss Mallet’s prowess. At night 
he, like the majority of his neighbours, was apt to he very 
sleepy; and this, it may be, prevented him from taking 
any overt notice of the marked disregard with which 
he was treated by Lady Middle wood. But on the third 
evening he chanced to take Mrs. Martindale, the lady 
who had fallen to his lot on his arrival, in to dinner, and 
she (being of a frank habit of speech) saw fit to open the 
conversation by remarking: 

I have been keeping a sympathetic eye upon you 
and the heiress. Take my advice and don’t he buoyed 
up by false hopes. She is to come out next spring, and 
Lady Maria Halsted is her grandmother. I can assure 
you, if you don’t know it, that that means a very great 
match indeed. It isn’t Lady Maria’s piety that will in- 
duce her to neglect her duty, you may depend upon it! ” 

Strahan was genuinely amused. Betty Mallet was 
only a child, and even if she had been a grown-up young 
woman, she would have been as safe in his company as in 
that of her grandmother. Of that he was perfectly well 
aware, for he was under no illusion either as to his own 
social standing or as to the light in which the girl re- 
garded him. Nevertheless, Sirs. Martindale’s rather 
silly speech put a notion into his head upon which he 
proceeded to act during the evening. It has been said re- 
peatedly, and with truth, that he was not at all disposed 
to make love to Lady Middlewood; still he did not quite 
relish the cavalier fashion in which he had been treated 
by her since his arrival at Ludworth, and he thought it 
might he interesting — just by way of a harmless expert- 


STRAHAN IS A LITTLE PUZZLED. 


189 


ment — to find out how she would like to see him paying 
assiduous court to somebody else. Therefore he paid 
assiduous court to Betty, who received his attentions 
with apparent pleasure, and he had not been thus en- 
gaged for twenty minutes before he had the satisfaction 
of perceiving that Lady Middlewood did not like it at all. 

Marietta was a poor hand at disguising her feelings; 
nor did she often deem it worth while to do so. In the 
drawing-room, while some of her guests were noisily en- 
grossed in a round game, and others were gravely dis- 
cussing the political situation (which had. become critical 
at the moment, owing to a sudden and unforeseen diffi- 
culty with a foreign power), she moved about restlessly, 
paying little heed to the remarks which were addressed 
to her from time to time, and throwing frequent impa- 
tient glances at the dark corner where Strahan could be 
discerned, bending over a little figure in a white gown 
and partially concealed by an enormous fan composed 
of black ostrich feathers. What business had he to pos- 
sess himself of Betty^s fan? What right had he to make 
the girl and himself conspicuous by retiring into so 
inconspicuous a spot? Such behaviour was, to say the 
least of it, in very bad taste, and, should it be persisted 
with, something might, perhaps, have to be said to him 
upon the subject. Marietta could not but remember 
that her sister-in-law was, for the time being, under 
her protection. 

She would have been reassured if she had heard the 
conversation which was being carried on under circum- 
stances suggestive of something altogether different from 
the actual relations which subsisted between the talkers. 
Betty, to whom this man, whom she rather liked and ad- 
mired a good deal, would have been no more conceivable 
as a lover than the Reverend Mr. Grace, was lamenting 
her imminent departure — not, as she frankly owned, be- 
cause she was about to leave anybody to whom she was 
profoundly attached behind her, but because it was only 
too probable that she would get no more hunting that 
season. 


190 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


I shall go out with the harriers sometimes from 
Chelton,” she said; “but that canH he called hunting; 
one might almost as well go out on foot.” 

“ Then why don’t you stay where you are ? ” asked 
Strahan. 

“ I have a granny who requires looking after. Be- 
sides, Lionel is too fond of filling his house with smart 
people for my taste. If Mr. St. Quintin had been 
coming, I would have tried to stretch a point; but he 
writes to say that he can’t be spared — which is very ag- 
gravating of him. You were at Oxford with him and 
Lionel, weren’t you? I hope you like him as much as I 
do.” 

“ Well,” answered Strahan, “ I dare say I should like 
him better if he didn’t, unfortunately, happen to cherish 
a strong dislike for me.” 

“Does he dislike you?” asked Betty, opening her 
blue eyes in astonishment; “ why should he do that, I 
wonder? Are you sure he dislikes you?” 

“ I am afraid there can’t be a doubt of it.” 

“ Dear me! I am sorry to hear that. Because it 
shows that you must have done something to deserve 
it.” 

Strahan laughed. “ I congratulate St. Quintin,” 
said he. 

“ Oh, he has his faults; he and I don’t invariably hit 
it off together. Still I shall always stand up for him be- 
hind his back, and I hope he will always stand up for me., 
That is my idea of friendship.” 

It was at this juncture that Marietta, whose patience 
was exhausted, thought fit to interrupt a colloquy which 
had been somewhat more protracted than has been re- 
ported above. 

“ Miss Mallet,” said Strahan, looking up with a smile, 
“ has been giving her definition of friendship for my 
benefit. It is an essential condition, as I understand, 
that one shall think no evil of one’s friends.” 

“ Then one’s friends must not give one cause to think 
ill of them,” returned Marietta rather sharply. . “ But 


THE RECALCITKANT PRINCESS. 


191 


I doubt, after all, whether there can really be such a 
thing as friendship between a man and a woman.” 

Strahan raised his eyebrows. Isn’t that rather a 
recent discovery on your part. Lady Middlewood?” he 
made so bold as to inquire. 

She shrugged her shoulders. One lives and learns. 
Betty, won’t you go and join those gamblers? They 
want somebody to fill up a place.” 

Betty had no objection; and Marietta, after watching 
her seat herself at the round table, moved slowly away. 
Did she expect to be followed? If so, she was disap- 
pointed; for Strahan, though much tempted to obey what 
had very much the appearance of an unspoken invita- 
tion, decided in favour of prudence. 

“ It won’t do,” he said to himself; “ complications of 
that sort would never do! Besides, if she is angry, it 
isn’t so much because she is jealous as because she is 
vain and greedy, I suspect. Good heavens! What ad- 
jectives to apply to the most charming woman of my ac- 
quaintance! All the same, I shouldn’t wonder if she 
was right in denying the possibility of friendship be- 
tween her sex and mine.” 


CHAPTER XXI 

THE RECALCITRANT PRINCESS. 

So far so good,” remarked Betty, in a satisfied tone 
of voice, as she folded up a bulky epistle which she had 
been perusing at the breakfast-table. 

^‘What is good?” asked her brother. 

Only the news that I have just had from granny. 
She writes at great length to announce that old Grace 
is about to contract a second marriage. I dare say you 
don’t remember Miss Stepney.” 


192 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


I remember a grim maiden lady, reputed to be very 
well off and very pious, who used to establish herself 
in the neighbourhood of Chelton during the summer 
months and whom I sometimes saw sketching under a 
big umbrella. You surely don’t mean ” 

Oh, yes, I do, and I consider it a very suitable ar- 
rangement. Indeed, I may say that I have had some 
hand in bringing matters to a head. All through the 
autumn I acted as a benevolent intermediary between 
these two young things, representing that each was pin- 
ing for the other, but was withheld by native modesty. 
Mow it appears that Grace has been down to Kent, where 
Selina (her name is Selina) resides, and has declared his 
passion. Granny says that in the whole course of a long 
life she has never heard of anything so flagrantly in- 
decent. She can but trust that Mr. Grace, having se- 
cured the means of living in idleness for the rest of his 
days, will see the propriety of resigning a benefice where 
his continued ministrations would be nothing short of 
a public scandal. I trust also that he will, and what is 
more, I fully expect him to do so; for he is a self-in- 
dulgent old wretch, and the climate of Derbyshire doesn’t 
agree with him.” 

Lionel laughed. " After all,” said he, if the two 
persons principally concerned are satisfied, I don’t know 
why anybody else should object.” 

Mor do I, dear boy: on the contrary, as I tell you, 
I myself cordially approve. But granny objects so strong- 
ly, and she has such a strong method of making her ob- 
jections known, that I think I may look forward to a 
speedy deliverance from the old gentleman’s scandalous 
ministrations. It was only a chance shot,” continued 
Betty musingly; but it has come off, thank Heaven! 
Mow one will have to be very careful about Grace’s suc- 
cessor, or one may find that one has only fallen out of the 
frying-pan into the fire. The hypocrisy of the Evangeli- 
cal school being laid bare, you see, the thing to do will 
be to enlist grann5^’s sympathies on the side of muscular 
Christianity. A sporting parson would give me no trou- 


THE RECALCITRANT PRINCESS. 


193 


ble and would be popular in the parish. Well, I must 
get home and see about it all — especially as granny’s 
letter contains an urgent summons. She says she has 
been so upset that she really is not fit to be alone any 
longer.” 

Marietta did not join in her husband’s hospitable 
protests: although she might have done so with a clear 
conscience, inasmuch as it presently transpired that Mr. 
Strahan, too, found it imperative upon him to bring 
his brief visit to a close. Matters of business, of which 
he had been informed by post, demanded his immediate 
return to London, it seemed. The troubled aspect of 
foreign affairs had disturbed the money market, he ex- 
plained, and for many reasons it was considered desirable 
that he should be upon the spot. 

He explained nothing else, nor was he invited to do 
so. If Marietta wished him to be explicit upon any 
other subject, she betrayed no such wish, and he took 
leave of her without the slightest reference, on his side 
or on hers, to the friendly compact ' which neither of 
them had repudiated. The only approach to an indis- 
cretion that he permitted himself was at the last mo- 
ment, when he said amiably: 

I am so glad to have had this glimpse of you in 
your newly acquired condition of absolute contentment. 
You will have plenty of people here to amuse you all 
through the winter, I have no doubt, and in any case, 
as you pointed out the other day, you will always have 
your husband and the baby.” 

He meant, of course, that these were unlikely to 
suffice for any great length of time; and the worst of it 
was that he was right! She was fain to admit as much to 
herself very soon after his departure, and the fact of 
having to make that admission renewed the feeling of 
dull irritation against the man which for a good many 
weeks past she had been more or less successful in 
stifling. Why should she care if the unfortunate fact 
that she was dissatisfied was no secret to him? What did 
it signify whether he understood her or not? Why had 


194 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


she ever given him the right to make speeches which 
bordered upon impertinence? At all events — setting 
Mr. Strahan and his speeches and opinions aside — there 
was no holding out against the impatient weariness 
which was once more taking possession of her. Lionel’s 
hunting friends were not amusing, and it was useless to 
go on pretending that they were; Ludworth might be 
better than Middlewood, but it was not a particularly 
lively place of residence in mid- winter for people who did 
not hunt: in short, Marietta thought that she required a 
change, and her medical attendant was so accommodat- 
ing as to agree with her. 

That amiable gentleman (who may have received 
some prompting from his patient) said that, while he 
did not feel justified in positively ordering such a thing, 
he was of opinion that a trip abroad would be highly 
beneficial to her ladyship. There would be no risk at all 
in leaving the baby, for the supply of whose immediate 
wants the services of competent persons had been se- 
cured, and what ’he should be inclined to recommend 
would be either the Riviera or Italy until — say, Easter. 

It must be owned that Lionel looked a little dismayed 
when this bland advice was addressed to him. To ask 
him to sacrifice the remainder of the hunting season, 
not to mention the numerous political and other engage- 
ments which he had formed, was to ask rather more than 
a trifle; still he replied that he would, of course, be guided 
by his wife’s wishes in the matter, and his wife, when 
consulted, stated her wishes without ambiguity. 

I have never been to Rome,” she said, and one 
must see Rome some time or other. Don’t you think 
that this is about as good an opportunity as we shall get? 
I mean, we shall probably be less free after we are out of 
mourning, and you will dislike the idea of leaving Eng- 
land just as much next year or the year after as you do 
now.” 

Oh, I’m not such an inveterate John Bull as all 
that,” answered Lionel, manfully endeavouring to appear 
more cheerful than he felt. Besides, it’s a question of 


THE RECALCITRANT PRINCESS. 


195 


pleasing you, not me. WeTl make it Rome, then. As 
far as that goes, I didn’t half see the place when I was 
there with St. Quintin.” 

Nobody will ever see again the unique and beloved 
city which the name of Rome represents in the memories 
of some of us who are no longer young; but there re- 
mains, of course, a great deal in the capital of modern 
Italy, which human ingenuity can neither vulgarise nor 
destroy, and it is certain that travellers so advantageous- 
ly equipped as Lord and Lady Middlewood can amuse 
themselves very well there. Lent fell late that year, 
and carnival gaieties were in full swing when they reached 
the spacious quarters which had been secured for them 
in a recently erected hotel. Introductions they scarcely 
required; still they had armed themselves with a few, 
addressed to the principal Italian families; so that they 
soon found it expedient to postpone systematic sight- 
seeing to a quieter season. Marietta’s success was imme- 
diate and unbounded. Her fluent Italian stood her in 
good stead, her singing — nobody in Rome had ever heard 
an Englishwoman sing like that — evoked enthusiastic 
applause, while her beauty was the theme of univemal 
comment and admiration. All this afforded her, for the 
time being, genuine delight. At last it seemed to her 
that some of the glittering visions in which she had in- 
dulged before her marriage were being fulfllled, and she 
lost that sense of having been somehow defrauded which 
had haunted her in England. Perhaps foreigners, and 
even English people abroad, are more demonstrative 
than frequenters of London society; perhaps her health, 
her spirits and her beauty alike benefited by the glorious 
weather which chanced to prevail; perhaps, too, she was 
not insensible to the joy of so triumphant a return to a 
country which had lately known — or rather ignored — 
her as a poor, insignificant and friendless child. She 
came across one or two of her former schoolmates, quiet 
little principesse, and contesse, who seemed to he fairly 
dazzled by the magnificence and to whom she could not 
resist extending a somewhat patronising recognition. 


196 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


If, as was probable, her unusual familiarity with the 
language caused any inquiries to be set on foot respecting 
her origin, these were not reported to her; for the rest, 
she would have been very willing, if interrogated, to 
furnish information upon the subject. Indeed, she was 
not without hope that she might, sooner or later, encoun- 
ter some member of the well-known family to which 
her mother had belonged. Her mother’s family, she 
presumed, would hardly be disposed to look down upon 
her now. She was, therefore, much pleased when, at a 
ball at the Quirinal, an olive-complexioned young offi- 
cer of cavalry was led up to her and presented under the 
name of Count Ettore Magliacci. 

'^We ought to know each other,” said she, smiling 
upon him, “ for I think we must be related. Had you 
not an aunt, or perhaps a cousin, who married Colonel 
Vigne, of the Austrian army? ” 

The young man shook his head. He did not think so; 
although it was needless for him to say that he would 
count it a high privilege to be connected, even distantly, 
with Lady Middlewood. The Magliacci, he added, were 
a somewhat numerous clan, and it was possible that the 
late Mrs. Vigne had belonged to some branch of it with 
which he was not acquainted. In any case, he would 
not fail to ask his mother, who had the whole family 
history at her fingers’ ends. 

Your mother is in Rome, then? ” asked Marietta. 

For the moment, yes; but she is old and in infirm 
health; she goes very little into the world. I am sure, 
however, that if you would deign to call upon her in her 
little apartment, she would feel much honoured. Lady 
Middlewood.” 

He was a pleasant-mannered young man, and Mari- 
etta liked him so much that she danced three times with 
him. He, on his side, made no secret of his eagerness 
to pursue an acquaintance so auspiciously begun; he 
wrote down his mother’s address on a card, and jumped 
at the informal invitation to luncheon with which he 
was favoured. 


THE RECALCITRANT PRINCESS. 


197 


But when, as the result of that invitation, he pre- 
sented himself at the hotel a few days later, it was evi- 
dent that something had occurred during the interval 
to modify the first warmth of his sentiments. Charm- 
ingly polite and amiable though he was (and no people 
in the world can be so charming or so polite as Italians) 
a certain embarrassment was perceptible in his manner, 
and he dwelt with rather uncalled for emphasis upon 
the unfortunate circumstances that his mother’s delicate 
health prevented her from receiving any visitors, save a 
few old friends. 

Was she able to identify me?” Marietta asked. 

Ma sicuro! — sicuro!^’ answered the young man 
hastily, Mrs. Vigne, it appears, was a younger sister 
of my father’s. But my father has been dead for many 
years — and she also, is it not so? It all happened a very 
long time ago, and I believe my mother never had the 
pleasure of being personally acquainted with yours.” 

Then he turned to Lionel and began to talk very 
fast in broken English about fox-hunting. Had Lord 
Middlewood ever been out with the hounds on the 
Campagna? It was doubtless not to be compared with the 
same sport as obtainable in England; still there were 
many who delighted in it, and for his own part, he 
thought it great fun. Only, as he could not afford to 
keep horses of his own, he had to make the best of hired 
ones; so that he was apt to he left behind in a quick run. 
He addressed his conversation almost exclusively to his 
host, notwithstanding the difficulty that he experienced 
in expressing himself, and he departed at length with- 
out having delivered any message to his first cousin 
from a lady who had apparently owned to being her 
aunt. 

That is a nice, manly fellow,” remarked Lionel, 
after he had taken his leave. 

But Marietta, who was frowning and looked an- 
noyed, did not respond. Presently she said: His mother 
does not wish to know us.” 

Doesn’t she? Well, I suppose we are not precisely 


198 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


in a fever of anxiety to know her/’ returned Lionel 
philosophically. She is an invalid, he said; very likely 
she doesn’t want to be bothered with strangers.” 

Marietta shook her head. It isn’t that; if I am her 
niece, I am scarcely a stranger — or, at all events, I ought 
not to be. Papa has always refused to make any ad- 
vances to these people; for in his own way he is Just as 
proud as they are, and I can understand his having felt 
that it was for them to take the first step. But now that 
I am — what I am, I should have thought they would be 
only too glad to claim relationship with us.” 

^‘H’m! well, it isn’t particularly important, is 

it? ” said Lionel. 

She made an impatient gesture. “ Oh, not to you! 
Nothing is important to you, except racing and hunting 
and shooting and political squabbles. But to me, it does 
seem rather important that I should be first welcomed 
by my relations and then given to understand that they 
would rather not have anything to do with me. I don’t 
know whether to call or not.” 

I hardly think I should call, if I were you; but 
suppose you wait until you father comes and consult 
him?” suggested Lionel. 

Colonel Vigne, who had been spending a part of the 
winter at Trieste, had been begged to Join his daughter 
and her husband, and was expected to arrive shortly. 
What his advice would be Marietta could easily guess; 
and perhaps that was why she decided to have herself 
driven, the next afternoon, to the address given her 
by Count Ettore. She was kept waiting a long time 
at the door, and was then informed that the Principesse 
did not receive. On the following day a servant left the 
Principessa Magliacci’s card at the hotel — which certain- 
ly seemed to be, as Marietta angrily declared that it was, 
conclusive. 

''Perhaps it is,” agreed Lionel; "but what then? 
I should think we might continue to find existence en- 
durable without this good lady.” 

" But it is an insult! — a positive insult! ” cried Mari- 


THE RECALCITRANT PRINCESS. 


199 


etta. Is it really nothing to you that your wife should 
he insulted ? ’’ 

But Lionel could not be induced to regard the inci- 
dent seriously. When his wife was insulted, he said, 
it would be time enough for him to arm himself to the 
teeth and sally forth to do battle with Count Ettore or 
some older member of the Magliacci family; hut he was 
quite sure that nobody had intended to he insulting. 
An old woman, who had never met the late Mrs. Yigne, 
was not inclined to emerge from the seclusion in which 
she lived; that was all. Perhaps, at the bottom of his 
heart, he thought, as Marietta did, that nobody could 
wish to inflict an actual snub upon so exalted a personage 
as Lady Middlewood. 

But Colonel Vigne, when he arrived, and was told 
what had taken place, was of a different opinion. The 
old gentleman was a good deal vexed, and did not con- 
ceal from his daughter that, by his way of thinking, she 
had gratuitously exposed herself to a rebuff. 

My dear child, have I not always warned you that 
they are irreconcilable, those people! Surely it would 
have been very easy and very simple to take no notice 
of them.” 

Nevertheless, he himself saw fit to take some notice 
of them; for he lost no time in calling upon the Prin- 
cess, and had a rather protracted interview with that 
lady, the result of which was that he returned to the 
hotel, bringing what, with a little manipulation, might 
he made to do duty for an apology. 

I am to say,” he told Marietta, that your aunt 
is living in complete retirement, that she expects to leave 
Rome shortly, and that she has for a long time past felt 
compelled to decline making any additions to her visit- 
ing-list. She hopes, therefore, that you will acquit her of 
intentional discourtesy, and — and I believe she said some- 
thing about wishing you well.” 

can’t imagine a more impertinent message! ” ex- 
claimed Marietta. She wishes me well! — why, that is 
the sort of thing that one would say to a dismissed servant! 


200 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


In plain words, what she means is that she looks down 
upon us.’^ 

Colonel Vigne shrugged his shoulders; he confessed 
that that might very possibly be the Princess’s meaning. 

I am not of the rank of the Magliacci; I never pretended 
to be; and when your poor mother married me — well, 
she forfeited the position to which she was horn.” 

That may be,” returned Marietta a little incon- 
siderately; “but at least they cannot deny that Lionel 
is their equal in rank and position. And I am Lionel’s 
wife.” 

The Colonel’s shoulders were once more jerked elo- 
quently upwards. “What would you have, my dear? 
It is the privilege of decayed nobility to be proud and 
prejudiced. The young man, as I understand, is under 
no prohibition with regard to visiting you or accepting 
your hospitality, and as for the old woman, it seems to 
me that you can very well afford to dispense with the 
society of one old woman, considering how eager all the 
other great people in Rome are to pay court to you.” 

It betrayed an imperfect acquaintance with Marietta’s 
character to assume that she would willingly dispense 
with anything, whether intrinsically desirable or not, 
which was refused to her; and, as a fact, this slight, which 
did not disturb her husband’s equanimity for a moment, 
sufficed to embitter for her the remainder of her so- 
journ in the Italian capital. She fancied (quite mis- 
takenly) that everybody had heard of it; she detected a 
hint of discomfort and deprecation in the mien of Count 
Ettore, whom she met from time to time; she perceived 
that it was not quite enough — although, in all conscience, 
it ought to have been enough! — to be Viscountess Mid- 
dlewood and to have a magnificent voice. And this ren- 
dered her so irritable and hard to please that poor Col- 
onel Vigne, who was more often in her company than 
Lionel, was not sorry to hear her announce abruptly, 
one morning, that she was sick of Rome. 

“ Why should we not go to Sorrento or Amalfi for 
Lent?” she asked. “We have seen almost everything 


SCANDALOUS CONDUCT/ 


201 


that there is to he seen here, and it will he so dull when 
all the entertainments come to an end/’ 

Lionel cheerfully acquiesced. He had not come 
abroad to please himself, and he asked nothing better 
than to please his wife, should that prove to be within 
the range of his capacity. 

You are very kind and very indulgent,” his father- 
in-law said to him apologetically. “ It is necessary to 
show great kindness and forbearance to women, if you 
will allow an old fellow who has seen something of life 
to say so, and you will have your reward in the long 
run.” 

But the worthy Colonel’s views of life were those of 
a man, and he did not realise that, whereas the mas- 
culine tendency is always to judge others by what they 
do rather than by what they say, the feminine is pre- 
cisely the reverse. That may have been why Marietta 
had no thanks to bestow upon a husband who sometimes 
refused, but more often granted her requests, without 
waste of words. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

SCANDALOUS CONDUCT.” 

I SUPPOSE,” said Betty, you have heard about 
granny?” 

“ I have heard,” answered Marietta, that she has 
taken a house in Chesham-place for the season, and that 
she intends to celebrate your dehut by entertaining a 
good deal in what she calls ‘ a quiet way.’ ” 

“ Oh, that’s of course. She had no alternative — or, 
at least, she said she hadn’t — and I dare say she wasn’t 
very anxious to discover one. What I meant to ask was 
whether you had heard of the change in her religious 
views? ” 


202 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Marietta shook her head; no intimation upon that 
subject had reached her. 

Well, I am glad to tell you that she is now an ad- 
vanced Ritualist. Granny never does things by halves, 
and Grace’s immoral conduct in espousing a rich old 
spinster having convinced her that the Evangelical party 
is no good, she has gone over, hag and baggage, to the 
opposite camp. Grace, as I knew he would, has resigned, 
and in his place we have got a nice little shaveling, whose 
sermons never last more than ten minutes. All through 
Ijent we fasted royally upon ingenious arrangements of 
llsh and eggs, and now we have the sanction of the 
Church to kick up our heels to any extent. As I say, I 
am glad of the change for many reasons. Personally, 1 
enjoy an ornate service, and it is an immense comfort 
to granny to feel that she is only fulfilling the duties 
that belong to her station by giving frequent little din- 
ners and attending them.” 

It was in Arlington-street, whither Lord and Lady 
Middle wood had just returned from abroad, that the 
above announcement respecting the conversion of a nota- 
ble personage to the precepts and practices of orthodoxy 
was made. It scarcely lay in the mouth of Marietta, 
whose own conversion from Romanism to Anglicanism 
was, as we know, of comparatively recent date, to ex- 
press any disapproval thereof. She merely remarked: 

You are both to be congratulated then. Oh, how I 
should congratulate myself if I could change places with 
you, Betty! ” 

You would, would you? I wonder why! ” said the 
young lady. 

Partly because you are so free and so pretty and so 
charmingly dressed; partly because you only want the 
things which you are quite sure to get; but, most of all, 
because you are evidently enjoying, and going to enjoy, 
your season to the full.” 

I certainly mean to enjoy myself as much as I can,” 
returned Betty. Up to the present I have done fairly 
well; though there have been experiences — one’s presenta- 


“SCANDALOUS CONDUCT. 


203 


tion, for instance — which haven’t been an immixed de- 
light, and I can’t say that I altogether look forward to 
spending the best part of the summer amongst bricks 
and mortar. Still, if this sort of thing is to be done at 
all, it had better be done at a time of year when there 
is no sport to be had. Thank you for calling me pretty 
and praising my clothes. It isn’t everybody who is so 
complimentary, I can tell you.” 

It did not seem very likely that many people could 
be found in London to dispute the claims of this azure- 
eyed, clear-complexioned and graceful little lady to be 
considered pretty, nor was it the fault of the best dress- 
maker in that city if her half-mourning costumes failed 
to excite admiration. 

I should like to know who ventures to be uncom- 
plimentary to you,” said Marietta, smiling. 

Well, there is Mr. St. Quintin, who has a wonderful 
gift of eloquent silence, and there is your friend Mr. 
Strahan, who was so kind as to point out to me the other 
day that my hands are irretrievably sunburnt up to the 
wrists — the result of having gone about without gloves 
in all weathers since my puppyhood. Clara Gosport also 
says that my attitudes are ungainly. There’s no pleas- 
ing everybody, is there ? ” 

Apparently there was a momentary difficulty in pleas- 
ing Lady Middlewood, whose countenance had clouded 
over a little at the sound of one of the above-mentioned 
names. However, it was in a voice which expressed no 
displeasure and only a touch of curiosity that she said: 

You see Mr. Strahan then? I have heard nothing of 
him for a long time.” 

So he told me; he wanted to know whether you 
were coming to London at all. Yes, one meets him 
every now and then, and one is always being questioned 
about him. It seems that a lot of people expect him 
to make their fortunes for them. Granny thinks of 
buying some shares in his company, but she says that 
^her poor, dear Halsted,’ as she always calls him, im- 
plored her with his dying breath to beware of specula- 
14 


204 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


live investments; so she felt it due to the memory of the 
departed to take no step until you came hack from abroad 
and she could consult Lionel. What made you stay away 
such a long time ? ” 

Marietta really could not say. Her sojourn on the 
southern shores of Italy had afforded her no particular 
pleasure, and a brief second visit to Rome at Easter had 
so far partaken of the nature of a disappointment that 
it had not brought about that meeting with the Princess 
Magliacci, upon whom she had rather perversely set her 
heart. Yet she had persuaded her husband, a good deal 
against his will, to postpone their return home until 
nearly the end of May. Her infant son had been des- 
patched to meet his parents in Paris, where they had 
spent several weeks, and even now it was scarcely by her 
own wish that she was in Arlington-street. 

I hate doing things all over again,” she said, by 
way of a partial explanation, “ and I saw almost all that 
there was to he seen of a London season last year. But 
nothing would induce Lionel to absent himself from the 
Derby; so here we are.” 

That Lionel had declared it imperative upon him to 
attend the Epsom summer meeting was true enough, hut 
Marietta’s assertion that a single season had sufficed to 
gratify her whilom yearnings after social celebrity seemed 
to lack verisimilitude. However, it was not challenged 
by Betty, who may have been rather more interested 
for the moment in the celebrity which she herself was 
rapidly acquiring than in that of anybody else. The 
Honourable Betty was, indeed, in a fair way to become 
very widely known, and that not so much by reason of 
her fortune or her personal attractions as of what, even 
in these advanced days, were held to he barely admissi- 
ble eccentricities of speech and action. 

Does one,” Lady Gosport had almost tearfully de- 
manded of her that very morning — I ask you, does one 
exercise young horses in the Row at unheard-of hours, 
without a chaperon or even a groom? And is one seen 
at prize-fights? ” 


“SCANDALOUS CONDUCT. 


205 


One makes so bold as to ride one’s own horse when 
one doesn’t want his mouth to be ruined by a mutton- 
fisted groom/’ was Betty’s reply. As for the glove- 
fight which you call a prize-fight, I was present at it 
under proper chaperonage, and I am very glad to have 
seen it.” 

“ It cannot Have been anything but a disgusting ex- 
hibition, and you were there, I hear, with that horrible 
Itushcliffe woman. If you call her proper! — ” 

I don’t know much about Lady Eushcliffe,” Betty 
coolly confessed; “she looks rather improper, I must 
say, but she is a good-natured woman. And there wasn’t 
anybody else to take me, you see.” 

Lady Gosport could but throw up her hands and won- 
der what in the world Aunt Maria was thinking about: 
to which Betty answered concisely, “ Altar-frontals and 
chasubles. Granny is a happy old child; for she has got 
a new toy.” 

It is only fair to Lady Maria to say that she was 
thinking a good deal about her granddaughter, as well 
as about the fashionable church which she now fre- 
quented, and that she had not been informed of that 
surreptitious patronage of pugilism. She was doing lier 
duty as conscientiously as her years and her notions of 
its nature enabled her to do it; but she was physically 
incapacitated from keeping a constant eye upon the rest- 
less Betty, and, having for a long time been virtually 
under the latter’s domination, she had not always the 
courage to ask direct questions. In a word, she was old, 
she valued peace, and there were things to which she 
was not unwilling to close her eyes and ears. A brilliant 
marriage, followed by a speedy abatement of youthful 
impetuosity and insubordination, was what she confi- 
dently looked forward to for her charge. Im the mean- 
time, she resumed (with no great reluctance) the jewels 
and the gay apparel which her former spiritual advisers 
had prevailed upon her to discard, and responded to a 
fair proportion of the very numerous invitations that 
were despatched to Chesham-place. 


206 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


It was at a large reception at the Foreign Office, one 
evening, shortly after the return of the Middlewoods, 
that she caught sight of a young man for whom she 
had always entertained kindly feelings, and beckoned 
to him with her fan. 

How do you do, Mr. St. Quintin? ” said she, when 
he had approached, in deference to her signal. If you 
have nothing else for Thursday next, and if you arenT 
too proud to fill up a place which has fallen vacant, will 
you come and dine? You will meet Lionel and his wife, 
if that is any inducement.’^ 

It will be an additional, hut quite unnecessary one,” 
answered St. Quintin, smiling. ‘^You need never he 
afraid that I shall he too proud to accept an invitation 
from you. Lady Maria.” 

“ Very kind of you to say so. I’m sure. Well, we are 
always glad to see you, and I do believe that if anybody 
can infiuence that rampageous grandchild of mine, you 
can.” 

St. Quintin, looking a little grave, said he could 
hardly flatter himself that that was the case. 

“ Oh, she quotes you. Not invariably with respect, 
I am bound to say; still she does .repeat the sage advice 
which you appear to give her from time to time, and I 
notice that she sometimes follows it. Now, tell me hon- 
estly — because I want to have an honest opinion about 
it, and I don’t care to consult everybody — ^is Betty what 
you would call a fast girl ? ” 

“ She certainly is not what I should call a fast girl,” 
answered St. Quintin; “but since you ask me, I think 
there is some danger of other people calling her so. Some 
of her friends, you see, are rather — ^well, I don’t quite 
know how to describe them without giving offence.” 

“ My dear man, you wouldn’t offend my ears if you 
described some of them in the crudest language,” said 
Lady Maria; and to prove the sincerity of her assertion, 
she proceeded to make statements respecting several well- 
known ladies which might have laid her open to an ac- 
tion for slander. “But what is one to do?” she con- 


“SCANDALOUS CONDUCT. 


207 


eluded; one must take the world as one finds it, and 
nobody in his senses expects to find it a foretaste of 
Heaven. Besides, most of these people, after all, are 
regular attendants at St. Winifred’s.’^ 

^ “ St. Winifred’s,” observed St. Quintin, is a very 
fashionable church. I have heard it said that some 
ladies make use of St. Winifred’s for purposes which can 
scarcely he called devotional.” 

Lady Maria burst out laughing. That is quite 
abominable of them!” she declared. ‘^To convert a 
church into a place of assignation — for I suppose that is 
what you mean — ^is, of course, to commit a deadly sin. 
At the same time, you know, there really ought to he 
some way of reconciling one’s religion with one’s social 
obligations, just as there ought to be (and I believe there 
is) some simple method of squashing scientific doubt. 
In former years I lived quite apart from the world; 
but everybody can’t do that, and, under existing circum- 
stances, I myself can’t. So you see! ” 

“ I quite see,” replied St. Quintin gravely, that St. 
Winifred’s supplies a much nedded compromise.” 

Well, yes; I think it does. And we are hound to 
judge our neighbours as charitably as we can. And as 
for Betty, she will probably be a married woman be- 
fore she is much older — which will solve all difficulties.” 

St. Quintin signified assent; although he was not 
sure that the solution of all difficulties is a necessary 
result of marriage. As he passed out, he had a glimpse 
of Miss Mallet, encircled by gilded youths, with whom 
she was talking and laughing rather loudly, and he said 
to himself, with a sigh, that at all events the child Betty 
was quite dead and gone. What the woman was going 
to be like remained an open question. Unwelcome odds 
and ends of gossip had reached his ears, and it occurred 
to him that, now Lionel had returned, a word or two 
might be whispered to the head of the family respecting 
these. 

The discharge of a somewhat delicate office of friend- 
ship was rendered easy for him, a few days later, by 


208 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Lionel’s introducing the subject of his own initia- 
tive. They were walking across the Horse Guards’ Pa- 
rade together, on their way to keep an appointment 
with St. Quintin’s chief, who wished to consult 
Lord Middlewood with regard to certain additions to 
the magisterial bench in the county of which he had suc- 
ceeded his father as lord-lieutenant, when Lionel 
said: 

I am beginning to he a hit uneasy about that young 
sister of mine. From what I hear, I am afraid she is 
getting herself mixed up with a rather rapid set; hut of 
course, next to my grandmother, I am the last person 
in London wLo is likely to he told the truth. Do you 
happen to know anything? ” 

St. Quintin happened to know a good deal; hut he 
hastened to add, after stating what he knew, that he was 
sure Miss Mallet did not herself realise the necessary 
results of her imprudences. 

She has been practically her own mistress all her 
life, I take it,” he said, “ and probably she doesn’t see 
why things which can he done with safety in one place 
can’t he done in another. If all men were gentlemen 
and good fellows, there would he no need to put her on 
her guard; but, as you know, plenty of men who ought 
to be both are neither.” 

The enunciation of this deplorable, but undeniable 
fact brought them into Whitehall, where, as chance 
would have it, St. Quintin’s interference with other 
people’s business was justified after an abrupt and dra- 
matic fashion. For whom should their afetonished eyes 
behold, driving a pair of fiery chestnuts in a mail-phaeton 
up that thoroughfare, but Miss Betty in person! And 
by her side was seated precisely one of those young dogs 
(Lord Charles Jocelyn by name) to whom the above un- 
flattering description might be held, without gross 
calumny, to apply. Now, as both the horses and the 
equipage in question were the property of Lord Middle- 
wood, it was scarcely to be wondered at that he should 
dart out into the roadway, holding up his hand and at 


“SCANDALOUS CONDUCT.” 209 

the same time giving vent to an exclamation more forci- 
ble than pious. 

Betty made a grimace at her companion and pulled 
up. Don^t excite yourself/^ she called out to her broth- 
er; ^^iUs all right. I found out at the stables that the 
horses were going to be exercised anyhow; so I thought 
they might as well be exercised by me as by anybody 
else. And they have been going as quietly as two little 
sheep, you will be glad to hear.^’ 

This mustn’t happen again, please,” returned 
Lionel curtly. You are welcome to the use of any 
horses of mine if you let me know beforehand, and if 
they are fit for you to drive; but these are not, and you 
won’t drive them another yard. I am afraid I must ask 
you to get down, Jocelyn,” he added, turning to the 
young man, of whose affable greeting he had taken no 
notice; I will take my sister home. I’ll meet you at 
the Home Office in less than half-an-hour, St. Quin- 
tin.” 

Lord Charles, a slim, good-looking youth, whose im- 
perturbability no earthly power could shake, stood for 
a moment on the pavement, gazing after the rapidly 
retreating vehicle. “ Poor Betty! ” he remarked; she 
is going to catch it now.” 

I don’t know what business you have to call Miss 
Mallet Betty,” said St. Quintin. 

She always calls me Charlie,” answered the other, 
with mild ingenuousness. 

‘^Does she, indeed?” returned the irate St. Quintin. 

Then all I can say is I hope she is going to catch it! ” 

That his hope was fulfilled he was speedily destined 
to learn from the lips of Betty herself, who, on the occa- 
sion of the dinner-party in Chesham-place, to which he 
had been bidden, led him aside and announced that she 
had a crow to pluck with him. 

What do you mean,” she asked, “ by egging Lionel 
on to abuse me like a pickpocket? ” 

Surely no egging-on was required,” answered St. 
Quintin. If taking a man’s horses out of his stables, 


210 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


without leave given or asked, isn’t much the same thing 
as picking his pocket, I don’t know what is.” 

. “ Oh, I am not speaking about the horses. Of course 
I ought not to have taken them, and I begged his par- 
don. But what I was scolded for was scandalous conduct 
— yes ^ scandalous conduct ’ in so many words, neither 
more nor less; and it appeared that you, of all people, 
had been the one to inform against me. Now, I tell you 
plainly that I don’t call that sort of thing either friendly 
or straightforward.” 

St. Quintin was sorry, but must decline to apologise. 
He had said nothing behind Miss Mallet’s back, he de- 
clared, that he would hesitate to say to her face; and, to 
prove that this was no vain boast, he went on to say 
things which had the effect of bringing a fine access 
of colour into the face alluded to. To drive about with 
young men — especially such young men as Lord Charles 
Jocelyn — and to call them by their Christian names was 
very nearly being scandalous; to make a friend of Lady 
Rushcliffe was little, if at all, better — and so on, by the 
space of five minutes, at the expiration of which time 
he became aware that he was in the presence of a very 
angry young lady indeed. 

“ Anything more ? ” he was asked, when he had made 
an end of speaking. 

Nothing, except that I hope you will learn in time 
who your real friends are, and that it isn’t for their own 
satisfaction that they incur your displeasure.” 

It strikes me,” said Betty, that I know pretty well 
already who my real friends are, and I can’t include you 
amongst them, Mr. St. Quintin. I don’t mind your be- 
ing rather a prig; perhaps that isn’t your fault. But I 
don’t feel inclined to forgive you for thinking so badly 
of me upon such slight provocation. However, you must 
think what you please; you may be sure that neither you 
nor anybody else will prevent me from doing just ex- 
actly what I please.” 

And with that, she turned her back upon him. 


MARIETTA BECOMES RESTIVE. 


211 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

MARIETTA BECOMES RESTIVE. 

Marietta, seated upon a sofa in the scantily fur- 
nished drawing-room of Lady Maria’s hired residence, 
and gazing over the head of the estimable elderly noble- 
man who was doing his best to entertain her, was a 
faintly amused spectator of poor St. Quintin’s discom- 
fiture. Having watched him while he dejectedly made 
for his hostess, and having heard him plead great pres- 
sure of work as an excuse for immediate departure, she 
rose and joined Betty, upon whose cheeks the flush of 
battle still glowed. 

“ What has that unfortunate man been doing to 
you ? ” she asked. It is easy to see what you have been 
doing to him.” 

What I maintain,” answered the girl, without much 
apparent relevance, “is that it doesn’t matter a straw 
what stupid and ill-natured people may choose to say 
about one. I am responsible to my own conscience, not 
to them, and so long as my conscience doesn’t accuse 
me, it’s little enough I care whether they shriek at me 
or hold their tongues.” 

“ Mr. St. Quintin has abandoned the eloquent silence 
that you spoke of the other day, then? ” 

“ Oh, yes; and I must say that speech is a good deal 
less becoming to him. All the same, I dare say he means 
well; the most infuriating people almost always do mean 
well. Perhaps I oughtn’t to have snapped his nose off — 
though he got no more than his deserts.” 

“His nose will grow again,” said Marietta; “it is 
essential to his existence. Mr. St. Quintin couldn’t live 
without a nose to thrust into his neighbour’s business. 
It has been s6 often thrust into mine that I can’t see it 
nipped without some little satisfaction.” 

“ Oh, he isn’t a busybody,” returned Betty, who, 
however incensed she might be against her friends, did 


212 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


not care to hear them spoken ill of by any one else. 

He has his faults — and tolerably glaring they are, some 
of them! — but I believe him when he says that it gives 
him no pleasure to tell me of mine/^ 

It is extremely impertinent on his part to allude to 
your faults. What are they, according to him? 

Betty could not resist relating the whole story. It 
was all very well, she said in conclusion, to blame girls 
for flirting — a vulgar practice which she herself despised 
and never indulged in — but reasonable beings ought to 
have some sort of discrimination. Was it likely that she 
would have publicly exhibited herself in a mail-phaeton 
with Charlie Jocelyn unless she had had a good reason 
for so doing? What had actually happened was that 
she had overtaken him in the Buckingham palace-road 
and had asked him to jump up, because she rather wanted 
to have somebody beside her, in case of accidents. 

I don^t mind telling you that I found those chest- 
nuts rather a handful, and Charlie, though he is an idiot 
in many ways, does know how to drive. But I really be- 
gin to think that ninety-nine men out of a hundred are 
idiots where women are concerned. I make an excep- 
tion in favour of Mr. Strahan, who not only knows how 
to ride and drive, but looks at things from a common- 
sense point of view. To be sure, he isn’t a lady’s man.” 

He seemed to be so little of a lady’s man that he had 
not yet been at the pains of calling upon a lady whose 
devoted friend he had once proclaimed himself. The 
mention of his name caused Marietta’s brows to con- 
tract. Brought up, as she had been, in accordance with 
foreign ideas, Betty’s proceedings certainly struck her as 
quite inadmissible; but she had refrained from express- 
ing disapproval, partly because she liked the girl, and 
partly because she did not wish to share in St. Quintin’s 
condemnation. That Strahan should be proving his 
common sense by maintaining, as he appeared to be do- 
ing, relations of intimacy with the young heiress was, 
however, an unwelcome piece of intelligence to her. 

Mr. Strahan has evidently made a great impression 


MARIETTA BECOMES RESTIVE. 


213 


upon you,” she remarked. What does Lady Maria think 
of him? ” 

“ Granny ? — oh, he stands very high in her good 
graces. As I told you, she hasn’t quite made up her 
mind yet to trust him with her money; hut she probably 
will before long, and she has the greatest admiration 
for his talents. He is going to be a very big man one of 
these days, she says, and I believe Mr. Sitwell, who 
ought to know, agrees with her.” 

He will be a big man, I dare say,” remarked Mari- 
etta. “ Perhaps it isn’t quite so certain that he is to be 
implicitly trusted.” 

She said no more at the time; hut her doubt as to 
Mr. Strahan’s complete trustworthiness — or some other 
motive — led her to ask her husband, while they were 
driving home, whether he thought it altogether wise of 
Lady Maria to encourage the visits of the rising celeb- 
rity. 

He is your friend, of course,” she observed; “ but 
I should think he is hardly the sort of person whom you 
would select to he your brother-in-law.” 

Lionel was much amused. “ What an extraordinary 
notion to have taken into your head! ” he exclaimed. 
“ Betty has shown some disposition to play the fool of 
late, it is true, and I have had to give her a wigging 
about it; hut she is in no danger, that I can see or hear, 
of contracting a precipitate marriage, and most assuredly 
she is no more dreaming of Strahan that he is of her. 
Strahan, I imagine, has other things to think about. 
Besides, he owns to being a bit of a woman-hater.” 

Strahan’s behaviour certainly lent some confirmation 
to that view of him; for every day Lady Middle wood 
examined the cards on the hall table without discovering 
his amongst them. Her odd, restless jealousy — jealousy 
of a man for whom she often said to herself that her feel- 
ing was one of interest and curiosity much more than of 
liking — was to some extent allayed by what Lionel had 
said, and to a still greater extent by what she heard from 
others of his absorption in matters of politics and finance. 


214 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Nevertheless, his marked and persistent neglect did not 
fail to hurt her pride. He often saw her husband, it 
appeared; hut that ordinary politeness required him to 
call in Arlington-street had evidently not occurred to 
him. And when at last the long delayed cards did meet 
her eye, on her return home one afternoon, her displeas- 
ure was increased rather than diminished. If he had 
not called at all, there might conceivably have been some 
cause for the omission which he would have been able 
to explain; but this tardy recognition of what was civil 
and customary could only mean that he had hitherto 
been too busy or too lazy to do his duty. 

It so happened that no immediate opportunity came 
to her of manifesting her displeasure to the delinquent. 
She went out a great deal, and so, by all accounts, did 
he; but their paths did not chance to cross, nor indeed 
was there any particular reason why they should: every- 
body must have noticed that in large, and even in small, 
cities such encounters occur by runs, like the red and the 
black at Monte Carlo, and one may spend a whole sea- 
son in London without once meeting this or that per- 
son who turned up with monotonous regularity last year. 

For the rest, this third London season of hers rep- 
resented little but monotony and satiety to Marietta. 
She was so constituted that something in the nature of 
a struggle was essential to her happiness, and so situated 
that no field of rivalry or competition lay open to her. 
Most women in her place would have endeavoured to be- 
come leaders of fashion; but she was for many reasons 
ill equipped to undertake that part, and she was con- 
scious of being appreciably less noticed and courted, now 
that she had mounted several steps on the social ladder. 
The truth was that she had taken no great trouble to 
make herself popular, while she had ceased to be a novelty. 
She was simply the beautiful Lady Middlewood, a woman 
more agreeable to look at than to converse with, and 
possessed of a fine voice, which she had capriciously 
declined of late to place at the disposal of organisers 
of charity concerts. There were, of course, plenty of 


MARIETTA BECOMES RESTIVE. 


215 


people who were delighted to know her and to accept 
her husband^s hospitality: but she was without special 
distinction, nor did she appear to covet any. 

As a matter of fact, she coveted nothing so much, 
unless it were attention, flattery, affection. Of these de- 
sirable things she did not think that she received her fair 
share from Lionel, who had once more become involved 
and engrossed in politics, and to whom it was generally 
believed that office in some shape or form would be offered 
ere long. As for her infant son — well, she had spasmodic 
fits of tenderness for him; hut the circumstance that he 
was cutting his teeth rendered his society a little trying, 
and upon the whole it seemed best not to interfere too 
much with his nurse — a stately and peremptory per- 
sonage. Perhaps it is rather more difficult for the ricli 
than for the poor to become attached to their helpless, 
hut troublesome offspring. And so, to sum up. Marietta 
was rather badly in want of a friend — were it only a false 
and fickle one, who might at least be made to serve the 
humble purpose of a scapegoat. 

Now it came to pass, one fine afternoon, that she 
was leaving the Park by the Grosvenor Gate entrance 
when her carriage was brought to a momentary stand- 
still by the traffic in Park Lane, and thus a gentle- 
man who was walking briskly in the same direction 
caught sight of her and, without waiting to he recog- 
nised, held out his hand, while he removed a badly- 
brushed hat. 

At last! ” he exclaimed. I really began to think 
that I was never going to see you again. Lady Middle- 
wood.” 

^^How do you do, Mr. Strahan?” returned Marietta 
loftily. Yes, I suppose it is rather a long time since 
we last met.” 

But she could not help being glad to see him; she 
could not help showing that she was glad; nor could she 
help perceiving that he was not the dupe of her pre- 
tended indifference. 

^^It must he acknowledged,” she said, impatiently 


216 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


throwing off a futile mask, that you haven’t exhausted 
yourself in efforts to meet me.” 

“ I have been so awfully busy,” he pleaded; “ you 
don’t know how busy I have been! I did call upon you 
one day ” 

“ At an hour when I was quite certain to he out. 
Yes; so I saw.” 

“ IIow can you say such fantastic things! Of course 
I wanted to find you at home; and I will find you at 
home yet, if you will allow me. When may I come? 
May I drive back with you now? I have an hour to 
spare.” 

He was in the carriage, which had already begun 
to move again, before she had time to give or withhold 
permission: no doubt one of the causes to which Stra- 
han’s success in life was due was the promptitude with 
which he was wont to suit the action to the word. 

Well, now,” he began, as he settled himself by 
her side, are we going to quarrel, or are we going to 
be friends? If you want to fight, I beg to say that I have 
a case — a pretty strong case.” 

Marietta turned her head and looked at him. From 
the beginning of their acquaintance there had always 
been moments when he had attracted, and others when 
he had repelled her; and just now, for some reason or 
other, he struck her as almost irresistibly attractive. 
His clearly cut features, his keen eyes, his intense, alert 
vitality — even the carelessness of his dress, which had 
sometimes affronted her fastidious taste — all seemed to 
her to mark him out as being, if not superior to other 
men, at least apart from them. 

Perhaps,” she answered, with a slight smile, you 
had better state your case.” 

All right; my case is that, when I had the honour 
of staying with you at Ludworth, I was rather severely 
snubbed. Oh, not rudely, of course; but, whatever I 
may be, I hope I am not dense, and if I get a hint, I 
presume that I am meant to take it. You won’t deny 
that you did give me a hint.” 


MARIETTA BECOMES RESTIVE. 


217 


hint of what?” 

“ Well, a hint that I was no longer wanted in a ca- 
pacity which you had been pleased to bestow upon me. 
Nothing could be more natural. As you yourself pointed 
out, you had your baby (I trust he is flourishing?) as 
well as your husband, and a confldential friend had be- 
come a superfluous luxury. I am not complaining; I 
merely wish to make it clear that I know my place and 
would rather not be obtrusive. When you returned to 
England, I waited, with the humility which is inherent 
in my nature, for a signal from you — and I didn’t get 
one. Consequently, I paid a duty call, with the result 
that you know of, and tried not to feel hurt. I say all 
this to forestall your unreasonable assertion that I ought 
to have called a second time.” 

“ I may as well tell you at once,” answered Marietta, 
laughing, ‘^that I don’t believe you. I can easily be- 
lieve in the excuse which you put forward just now, that 
you have been busy.” 

Oh, it is true that I have been busy — and other 
things are also true. Anyhow, I am glad to see by your 
face that you are willing to forgive the offences which 
I haven’t committed; so why should we dwell upon 
them? Tell me all about your Roman experiences instead; 
that will be a much more pleasant topic of conversa- 
tion.” 

The expression of her countenance had not misled 
him; she was ready to pardon all his offences, real or 
imaginary, in consideration of what he had to offer her 
— a friendly and sympathetic attention. Some months 
earlier she had fancied herself able to dispense with 
him, and had even been dimly conscious that it might 
be wise and expedient to do so; but now she was no 
longer in that mood. It is easier, as well as far more 
agreeable, tg do without wisdom and expediency than 
without sympathy, and she rather naively remarked, on 
concluding the lengthy and circumstantial narrative 
which he had invited, One must tell one’s little mis- 
eries and vexations to somebody — at all events, I must! 


218 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


If you hadn’t turned up in the nick of time, I believe 
I should have been driven to confide in my maid — 
which everybody says is a most disastrous thing to do.” 

They were "already seated in the Arlington-street 
drawing-room, Lady Middlewood, who had been on her 
way to fulfil an afternoon engagement, having decided 
to neglect it and drive straight home. Strahan acknowl- 
edged the compliment paid to him with a bow and a 
smile. 

Without vanity,” he remarked, I think I may 
claim to be a little more trustworthy than a lady’s maid. 
Perhaps just a trifle more intelligent, into the bargain.” 

His intelligence, at any rate, was equal to the ap- 
preciation of what that admission of hers implied; wheth- 
er it was quite equal to the comprehension of a compli- 
cated and essentially feminine character might be an- 
other question. What impressed itself most upon him 
was her amazing lack of reticence and discretion. She 
had told him, almost as plainly as though she had ut- 
tered the actual words, that her husband counted for 
nothing in her eyes, whereas another man — the man 
whom she was addressing, in fact — counted for a good 
deal. What conclusion could she expect the other man 
to draw from such an avowal? But if Marietta was in- 
discreet, Roland Strahan had discretion enough for two. 

I mustn’t do it! It’s too risky, and I really can’t af- 
ford it,” was the half-formulated thought in his mind, 
as he gazed at the beautiful woman whose eyes met 
his. Therefore, all that he said, after a short pause, 
was: 

“ So the Magliacci family declined to let bygones he 
bygones? ” 

Yes; and I can’t in the least understand why! Can 
you? It seems so perfectly ridiculous, considering what 
I am now — and what they are! ” 

Strahan’s meditative smile seemed almost to suggest 
that he might supply an answer to the question if he 
chose; hut apparently he did not choose. He only re- 
marked: 


MARIETTA BECOMES RESTIVE. 


219 


^‘Well, I suppose it isn’t a matter of supreme im- 
portance.” 

“ You speak as if you understood no more than my 
father and Lionel do! That is exactly what they both 
said. My father found it incomprehensible that I should 
care about the notice of one old woman when all the 
other people in Rome delighted to honour me. But of 
course it was just the obduracy of that one old woman 
that made her supremely important — and spoilt every- 
thing. Can’t you see that?” 

“ I dare say I can,” answered Strahan, thinking to 
himself that possibly his own recent obduracy might be 
in some measure accountable for his present importance; 

but if I were you, I should try very hard to look at life 
from a different point of view. At this rate you will 
never be without some good reason — some bad reason I 
should say — for being disgusted with the whole busi- 
ness.” 

What is the use of talking like that? One looks 
at things as one’s nature forces one to look at them, 
not as outsiders see them, nor even as they are. Please 
don’t begin again with that weary old story about my 
numerous blessings! Let it be agreed, once for all, that I 
am abundantly blessed and atrociously ungrateful. At the 
bottom of your heart, I believe you feel exactly as I do. 
Why are you toiling and struggling all day long? Why 
are you giving yourself premature gray hairs? — for your 
hair is beginning to turn gray at the temples, though I 
don’t suppose you have taken the trouble to notice it. 
Will you care so very much about being rich and a Co- 
lonial Prime Minister at the end of all? I am quite sure 
you won’t.” 

^^Very likely not; but the difference between you 
and me is that I am working towards a definite aim, 
and that I enjoy the process. So whatever the future 
may bring me, I am having a very tolerable sort of pres- 
ent.” 

Oh, yes; your luck is better than mine in that re- 
spect, no doubt. But aren’t you sometimes a little afraid 
15 


220 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


of the future? Don’t you think, when you have accom- 
plished your definite aim, you may discover that you 
want something else — something which it will he too 
late to think about then ? ” 

Once more her audacity astonished him. If she did 
not mean the interpretation which most men would 
have placed upon her words to be given to them, she 
must surely realise that they were open to that inter- 
pretation. 

As a matter of fact, she did realise this, and her reck- 
lessness was deliberate. She was provoked by the man’s 
friendliness and self-control and insensibility; she 
wanted to stir his blood — wanted, at least, to find out 
whether his blood was not capable of being stirred. Her 
feminine intuition told her that she had a certain power 
over him, and she longed to make him acknowledge it. 
His reply, for which he kept her some time waiting, was 
not very conclusive. 

I make it a rule,” he said gravely, “ not to wish 
for impossibilities. According to you, one possible thing 
is as well worth wishing for as another, since one is 
bound to be satisfied with what one gets.” 

And at this point the entrance of two lady visitors 
gave him an opportunity to retire of which he was 
neither slow nor sorry to take advantage. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

LADY MIDDLEWOOD’s DANCE. 

The mansion in Arlington-street boasted, amongst 
other enviable accessories, of a really fine and spacious 
ball-room, in which only a very few halls had ever taken 
place. Under the reign of the late Lord Middlewood, 
who during the earlier part of his life had been hard 


LADY MIDDLEWOOD’S DANCE. 


221 


lip and during the latter had been a widower, with no 
adult daughters to introduce, the question of utilising 
such an advantage had scarcely arisen, and for many 
years it had remained, with its crystal chandeliers and 
its red benches shrouded in brown holland, unvisited, 
save by housemaids and others, whose duty it was to 
keep the polished, inlaid floor in good condition. Now, 
the number of ball-rooms in London which are ball- 
rooms and nothing else may almost be counted upon a 
man’s fingers, and that, no doubt, was why an affable 
Royal personage condescended, one evening, to say: 

You ought to give us a hop, Middlewood. Why 
don’t you give us a hop? In these days, you are one of 
the rare people who can afford to do the thing well — and 
you don’t do it.” 

Such a remark, coming from such a quarter, was 
equivalent to a command; and although, in truth, heavy 
death-duties had left Lionel with no superfluity of cash 
at his banker’s he made haste to intimate to his wife 
that it was a case of sending out prompt invitations. 
A date so near at hand had been suggested to him that 
a formal ball, to which the whole of a large acquaintance 
would have had to he asked, might have been rather 
difficult to arrange; but this, it appeared, was not 
desired. The projected entertainment resolved itself 
into a dinner, to have the honour of meeting Royalty, 
followed by a small and early dance, which was not like- 
ly to terminate early, and of which the cost was cer- 
tain to be anything but small. But questions of out- 
lay possessed absolutely no interest for Marietta, who 
had never so much as inquired what her husband’s in- 
come was, whereas the prospect of outshining sundry 
ladies who had scarcely noticed her of late applied the 
spur to her flagging energies. She threw herself into the 
plan with something like enthusiasm, and was warmly 
supported by Betty, whose declared opinion it was that 
this thing must be made a big success. 

Granny be bothered ! ” that resolute young woman 
said, after the list of invitations had, by request, been 


222 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


submitted to the revision of her elders; ^^it isn’t for the 
likes of her, at her time of life, to teach us to suck eggs. 
We know who you are bound to have; what depends 
upon judicious selection, and will make or mar the 
whole show, is the tail. Don’t be offended’. Marietta; 
but I’ve kept my eyes open for a good many weeks, while 
you have kept yours closed, and I believe, if you’ll con- 
sent to be guided by me, I can provide you with a tail 
which will wag sublimely.” 

The result of provisional acquiescence on Marietta’s 
part was a somewhat ruthless excision of high-sounding 
names and the substitution of others which, as Betty was 
good enough to explain, represented smartness and mod- 
ernity. She went through the list alphabetically and 
took a great deal of trouble about it, bearing always in 
mind the inexorable necessity of keepng the numbers 
down and sacrificing not a few of her friends to her sense 
of the responsibility conferred upon her. When she 
reached the letter S., she paused, with uplifted pen- 
cil, and said: 

“Well, he doesn’t deserve it; but rather than seem 
to be vindictive, we will stretch a point. His name shall 
go down.” 

“ Mr. St. Quintin’s name was not on my list,” re- 
marked Marietta, who was looking over the writer’s 
shoulder. 

“ So I see; but Lionel might be annoyed if he were 
left out, and as I say, one doesn’t wish him to flatter 
himself that he has been purposely slighted. Well then, 
there is Mr. Strahan. Upon the present occasion, I 
think Mr. Strahan may be allowed to slide.” 

“No; he must have a card,” returned Marietta de- 
cisively. “ I particularly wish him to be invited.” 

Betty shrugged her shoulders. “ Oh, very well; let 
him come, then. After all, he has a right to put in an 
appearance; for nobody can accuse him of not being suffi- 
ciently up-to-date. We shall have to be rather stern with 
the T’s and the W’s and the Y’s, though: our limits 
are nearly reached.” 


LADY MIDDLEWOOD’S DANCE. 


223 


Miss Betty’s notions of the direction in which stern- 
ness required to be exercised did not coincide with those 
of her venerable grandmother, or Lady Eushcliffe’s 
name, for instance, would hardly have figured amongst 
those bidden to a very select gatherings. But, as Lady 
Eushcliffe was unquestionably “ up-to-date,” Betty per- 
haps knew what she was about, while Marietta, for her 
part, was much more eager about supper and decorations 
than desirous of excelling by means of a nice discrimina- 
tion in her choice of guests. She attached, indeed, 
but slight importance to the distinctions and subdivi- 
sions of a society in which she had remained practically 
an alien, and, with the one exception just specified, 
had no change to make in her sister-in-law’s amended 
catalogue. 

The exception may have been a significant one; 
but she was scarcely conscious of its being so. Had she 
examined herself faithfully and honestly (a process for 
which she had no inclination), she would have discov- 
ered that, without being in love with Mr. Strahan, she 
was anxious and determined to make him a little bit 
in love with her. He had as good as challenged her 
to perform that feat, and he would get no more than 
his deserts by being taken at his word. She did not, 
however, mentally define the situation with such brutal 
exactitude; she merely made up her mind to convince 
a sceptic and misogynist that the course of this world’s 
affairs is not ordered by considerations of practical util- 
ity alone, and that it may be a little unwise to boast 
of wearing a cuirass which has never yet rendered mor- 
tal man wholly invulnerable. 

Consequently, when Strahan made his appearance 
at the small and early dance to which he had had the 
privilege of being bidden, his hostess, after shaking 
hands with him, did not suffer him to pass on in the 
wake of other arrivals. By a barely perceptible gesture 
she signified that she wished him to remain at her side, 
and there he accordingly stationed himself for half an 
hour, or thereabouts, not ill-pleased with the distinction 


224 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


bestowed upon him and scrutinising, Avith quick, ob- 
servant glances, all manner of fashionable and official 
folks as they filed past. The whole scene was extremely 
pretty, brilliant and suggestive of numerous reflections 
to the philosophic observer. Not the least suggestive 
feature in it, perhaps, Avas the person of the beautiful 
lady whose hair and neck Avere adorned Avith glittering 
gems, and Avho threAv a remark to him every noAV and 
then over the bare shoulder to Avhich he stood so near. 
Only the other day this resplendent creature had been 
one Marietta Yigne — an absolute nobody, if ever there 
Avas one — and only the other day her neighbour had 
been an obscure colonist, Avith little or no money in his 
pocket and prospects of the vaguest and most visionary 
character. Truly riches and honours are for those Avho 
take them by storm, and neither an intelligent man nor 
a beautiful Avoman need ever despair of anything! 

It seemed almost as though Lady MiddleAvood de- 
sired to emphasise that sage comment upon mundane 
phenomena, Avhen at length she turned to her guest and 
said smilingly: I am not going to dance this evening. 
I donT knoAv Avhether you are; but if not, there is an un- 
occupied sofa under that little forest of palms AAffiere 
Ave might sit in the shade and look on.” 

He Avould have been either more or less than human 
if he had not felt flattered, and of a colder temperament 
than he happened to be by constitution if the beating 
of his heart had not been accelerated. Could any 
Avoman — could even a Avoman so odd as Lady MiddleAvood 
give such an invitation under such circumstances Avith- 
out meaning rather more than she said? 

^^But Avon’t you be obliged to dance?” he asked, 
as he moved beside her towards the spot Avhich she had in- 
dicated. Isn’t it at least obligatory upon you to dance 
attendance on these Royal Highnesses? I never Av^as in 
the room Avith a Royal Highness before, except once at a 
Levee, so I don’t know much about their ways; but I 
thought the people Avho entertained them had to be 
always at their beck and call.” 


LADY MIDDLEWOOD’S DANCE. 


225 


answered Marietta, here I am — conspieu- 
ousyl ready to be beckoned and called for, when wanted. 
But I have done the necessary quadrille, followed by 
an unnecessary waltz, and I doubt whether I shall be 
summoned again before supper time. Other would-be 
waltzers have been warned off. I took it into my head, 
you see, to reserve myself for you.” 

The smile with which she made this announcement 
was not altogether easy to interpret. It had the effect 
of being provocative, triumphant, possibly a shade iron- 
ical. For once Strahan felt as if their respective parts 
had been reversed, and as if she were reading him, in- 
stead of his reading her. It sounded ludicrously matter- 
of-fact to ask “ Why did you do that?” Yet, since he 
wanted to know, and was not unwilling to disconcert 
her, the query might have been worse worded. 

She was not, however, in the least disconcerted. 

Because,” she replied, you are such a difficult person 
to get hold of, and because you have a provoking habit 
of taking to your heels Just when you are upon the point 
of interesting confessions. At the present moment, as 
you must see, flight is out of the question; so we will 
resume our last conversation, if you please, at the point 
where you broke it off. Do you remember how far we 
had got, or shall I help you?” 

He remembered very well indeed — so well that his 
hold over himself, which had momentarily slackened, 
grew tense again with a conviction of imminent peril. 
If only that peril had been less obvious, less indisputable! 
But he saw it in an instant, as men of his temperament 
do see things, sharp and clear, with all its consequences, 
possible and probable, as plainly defined as if they be- 
longed to the past, not to the future. This was going 
to be no question of a flirtation, or even a liaison, with a 
woman of the world, who knew what she was about; it 
was going — unless nipped in the bud — to be a very 
serious matter for one whose principle it was never to 
take women seriously. And that was why he answered, 
with a perfectly calm, level intonation: 


226 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Oh, yes; you were saying, when those ladies came 
in and interrupted us, that I should some day regret 
having left romance out of account. But I don’t think 
I shall; it isn’t in old age that people are apt to cherish 
romantic regrets. Old age is essentially domestic, and 
no doubt by the time I have reached it, I shall he the 
husband of some worthy elderly woman, with a little 
money of her own, and a due sense of the duty of sup- 
plying me with creature comforts.” 

Poor elderly woman, to have been sent into the 
world only for that purpose! But I expect your regrets 
to come rather before you arrive at the elderly stage.” 

I shall endeavour to stifle them,” said Strahan. 

Some people — you, for one — enjoy regretting what 
they have missed; I don’t. I mean to get all I can out 
of life; I refuse to tear the hair which you say is turn- 
ing gray because I can’t be what I am not, or secure 
what is out of my reach.” 

In other words,” she returned, with a scorn and 
anger which were genuine, and assumed in about equal 
proportions, you have no heart; only a set of well-dis- 
ciplined senses. So that even if you do miss the best 
that life has to give, you will never know it. I con- 
gratulate you; but, frankly, I don’t ” 

You don’t like me,” said he, completing her un- 
finished sentence for her. 

C^est entendu — you have told me that before, to 
my sorrow.” 

^^Your sorrow, like your future regrets, has been 
most successfully stifled. The liking for you which you 
know very well that I have had— should I be conspicu- 
ously concealing myself with you at this moment unless 
I liked you? — ^must follow suit, I am afraid. I remem- 
ber your assuring me once that there were soft places in 
you, and I had a sort of hope that you might be speaking 
the truth; but now you have convinced me that you were 
not.” 

It was open to him to bow to that sentence, accept 
that virtual capitulation and terminate the interview; 


LADY MIDDLEWOOD’S DANCE. 


227 


but he was not, after all, made of sheer adamant, and 
Lady Middlewood was wonderfully lovely, and somehow 
or other, she forced his half reluctant eyes to encounter 
hers. So he remained for a time in what she had aptly 
described as conspicuous concealment with her, and said 
things which were scarcely reconcilable either with his 
previous professions or with the rules of conduct which 
he had laid down for himself. 

It is needless to add that his hostess and he were 
a good deal noticed beneath their sheltering palms. The 
crowd was not large enough, nor was Lady Middlewood 
unimportant enough, for so prolonged a tete-d-tete to 
escape observation and comment. Even Betty, who had 
fish of her own to fry, and who was dancing with the 
energy which characterised all her proceedings, could 
not but remark that, every time she entered or left the 
ball-room, the same white and silver brocade gown and 
the same pair of black crossed legs maintained the same 
close juxtaposition. 

Now Ifil just trouble you to look at that,^’ said she, 
addressing a gentleman for whom she had chosen to keep 
a single dance, and who was so modest that he had been 
very much surprised when, in response to his diffident 
request, it had been granted to him. “ For close upon 
one hour those two have been sitting there, without 
stirring, and, as far as I can see, there they are likely to 
sit until supper parts them. A nice row I should get 
into if I were to behave in such a way! ^ Scandalous 
conduct ^ wouldn’t be half strong enough language to 
meet the case, would it? But Marietta, it seems, may 
steal horses, while I mustn’t look over hedges.” 

“ It isn’t for me to say what Lady Middlewood may or 
may not do,” observed St. Quintin. 

^^I like that! Is it for you to say what I may or 
may not do, then? I wonder whether you know why I 
am now making a considerable sacrifice for a partner who 
dances uncommonly badly. You’ll allow, perhaps, that 
you do dance badly ? ” 

Oh, yes; I’ll allow that,” answered St. Quintin, with 


228 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


becoming meekness; “ and I don’t know at all why I am 
so honoured. I was just wondering.” 

“ Well may you wonder! But ITl explain. The 
fact is that, on thinking things over, I came to the con- 
clusion that I would give you an opportunity to beg my 
pardon for speaking as you did the other day. Most 
likely you didn’t mean to be as offensive as you were.” 

I certainly didn’t mean to be offensive; but I am not 
going to beg you pardon,” returned St. Quintin, stout- 
ly. You shouldn’t have accused me of traducing you. 
Besides, I got as good as I gave. No man likes to be 
called a prig.” 

“ Well,” said Betty, after a moment of consideration, 
I withdraw that epithet. You aren’t really a prig; 
though I must say that you sometimes talk rather like 
one. Now, if you’ll acknowledge that I’m not scandal- 
ous, we may shake hands.” 

“ You are not scandalous,” answered St. Quintin; 
though I must say that you sometimes behave rather 
as if you were. Will that do?” 

Betty laughed; I suppose it must do: but don’t 
put me into a rage again, please. I hate being put into 
a rage, and it has the worst possible effect upon me. 
Here comes Mr. Strahan, looking as if he might be 
enraged without much difficulty. What can Marietta 
have been doing to him! ” 

I trust,” said St. Quintin, that she has been 
snubbing him. He requires it.” 

But the clouds which were visible upon Strahan’s 
brow were not clouds of anger, nor had he been treated 
after the fashion alluded to. He was, however, immersed 
in thought and would not have noticed Miss Mallet, 
had she not arrested him by a familiar, peremptory 
gesture. 

Where are you off to, with that glum face?” she 
inquired. Have you had a telegram to say that there 
is no more gold in the mines? ” 

He replied, without smiling, I’m going home; I 
have a splitting headache. Good-night.” 


GOOD LUCK AND GOOD GUIDANCE. 


229 


remarked Betty, after he had finished, 
that^s polite! And I who was going to ask him to 
take me in to supper! 

Really,” remonstrated St. Quintin, you mustn’t 
give such invitations to men: they might be misunder- 
stood.” 

Mustn’t I? Dear me, what a pity! Because I was 
thinking of transferring the privilege to you.” 

I’m different,” St. Quintin declared. 

Why ? Not because you are incapable of misun- 
derstanding people, at all events. However, since you 
say you are different, we’ll go in and feed together when 
the Royalties have finished. You will be as good so to 
note that this is a very generous concession on my part; 
for I believe I am entitled to a place at the Royal ta- 
ble. But there’s no nasty pride about me! ” 


CHAPTER XXV. 

GOOD LUCK AND GOOD GUIDANCE. 

Stkahan walked home from Arlington-street. It was 
a fine, warm night, and the rooms which he occupied 
Avere not very distant; so he thought that it would cool 
his head and promote sober refiection to proceed thither 
on foot. His head, as he had truthfully told Miss Mallet, 
was aching, and it was certainly hot — much hotter than 
any woman on earth ought to have been able to make 
it. This was what he said to himself, as he paced slowly 
down St. James’s-street, Avith knitted brows and a cigar- 
ette between his lips. The most insistent impression of 
Avhich he was conscious, out of several unforeseen im- 
pressions, was that he had been worsted in an encounter 
from which he had had every reason to expect that he 
Avould emerge victorious; and this angered him; for he 


230 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


hated nothing so much as being beaten. It was, no 
doubt, an unusual light in which to regard such an ex- 
perience as he had just passed through; but he was a 
somewhat unusual man. He had been singled out — 
very visibly and emphatically singled out — for favour by 
a lady whose rank and position were on a level with her 
physical charms, and his vanity was so little flattered that 
he actually ejaculated aloud, “ Confound the woman! 
does she imagine that she is going to make a fool of me‘i ’’ 

She had not done so yet: of that, upon consideration, 
he was pretty certain. She had, to he sure, so far suc- 
ceeded in making a fool of him that she had caused him 
to lose hold over himself and to utter words of which the 
purport must have been clear to her, though he could 
not now call them to mind with absolute precision. But 
between words and actions there is a vast space. Ho! 
he was still his own master; and his own master he 
meant to remain, were it at the cost of breaking Lady 
Middlewood^s heart into little bits. 

That decisive and slightly brutal summing up of the 
situation did him good and enabled him to indulge in 
a short laugh. It was no fatuity nor conceit that led 
him to assume the probability of Lady Middlewood’s heart 
being engaged in the matter. He was so sane, so clear- 
sighted and, within limits, so experienced that the as- 
sumption scarcely excited him or gratified his self-love. 
Such a woman as she was, circumstanced as she was, 
must inevitably become enamoured, or fancy herself 
enamoured, of somebody, and he quite well understood 
by virtue of what qualities he had appealed to her imag- 
ination. 

And such a man as I am, circumstanced as I am,” 
he added grimly, is bound to turn a deaf ear to that 
class of enchantresses. Good Lord! is there so much 
difference between one woman and another that a man 
should risk ruin for the sake of a Marietta when it is 
open to him to console himself with a Polly or a Dolly? 
All the same, Marietta is a lovely name — and I have had 
a narrow squeak to-night! ” 


GOOD LUCK ANT) GOOD GUIDANCE. 


231 


He had had so narrow a squeak that when he reached 
his rooms and flung himself down upon a chair beside 
the open window, with his arms folded upon the sill, 
he surrendered for a time to the visions which assailed 
his still heated brain. He was not going to do anything 
idiotic; so that there could be no great harm in letting 
the visions have their way with him, and the truth was 
that they were very pleasant. He fancied himself dwell- 
ing in some far-off, balmy clime with Marietta, and he 
acknowledged that the picture was a seductive one; 
though he laughed at it and at his own absurdity in 
contemplating it. All for love, and the world well 
lost! — what ludicrous rubbish! As if it were not a mat- 
ter of universal knowledge, and almost of universal ad- 
mission, that love is but a transient emotion, and that 
those who consent to lose anything for it are the blind- 
est and silliest of dupes! It was exceedingly unlikely 
that Lady Middlewood herself, if it came to the point, 
would consent to sacriflce all that she would be called 
upon to sacriflce in order to convert such visions into 
realities. He was not under any illusion respecting 
her; he had studied her sufficiently to be aware that, 
in spite of the wide divergence between their respective 
characters, she was to all intents and purposes quite as 
selflsh as he was. 

Yet I don’t know,” he muttered, as he blew a 
cloud of cigarette smoke into the still night air. I 
can imagine her committing an act of splendid and 
stupendous folly — and I can imagine myself doing the 
same! ” 

Therein lay the sting of his meditations. He really 
could — and with no great effort either — imagine himself 
acting as no man since the world began has ever acted 
without speedy repentance. Twenty-four hours earlier 
his imagination would have been powerless to carry him 
so far, and the inference was as alarming as it was ob- 
vious. It was alarming, that is, in the sense that an 
express train, dashing suddenly along a line of railway 
which one has been preparing to cross, may be alarm- 


232 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


ing. The peril is past; but the flesh of the heedless 
wayfarer is made to creep, and perhaps he gasps out a 
curse upon his heedlessness. 

Strahan uttered no curses; but he pushed his chair 
hack from the window, jumped up and exclaimed, with 
impatient irritation, Oh, very well, then ! I^m in love. 
What of that? I have been in love before now, and here 
I am, safe and sound in mind and body. It isnT a thing 
to make such a fuss about.” 

But possibly the reminiscences suggested to him by 
that statement of a fact were not altogether agreeable; 
for he frowned more heavily than ever and shook his 
head with greater decision. I won’t go and lunch 
with her, anyhow,” was his flnal assertion, before reso- 
lutely dismissing the whole business. 

Lady Middle wood had asked him to lunch with her 
on the following day, and he had accepted the invitation 
with alacrity; but of course nothing would be easier 
than to telegraph an excuse. This he accordingly did, 
as soon as he had had a few hours of sleep and had 
eaten his breakfast. By that time he was thoroughly 
awake, thoroughly alive to the necessity of caution, and 
likewise provided (by post) with matters for immediate 
attention which would, in any case, have prevented 
him from fulfilling his engagement. In the City, where 
he spent the whole day, he had to match his sharp wits 
against others not less acute; for the latest advices from 
Australia were rather unfavourable to the projects in 
which he was interested, and risks had to be incurred 
which sundry influential capitalists showed a disinclina- 
tion to accept. Before nightfall, however, he had tri- 
umphed over the capitalists and had averted what for a 
moment had looked like an incipient crisis. He held in 
his deft fingers a large number of threads, which were 
liable to become entangled at any time, and which de- 
manded the most delicate and dexterous manipulation; 
so that it was not upon Lady Middlewood that he had 
leisure to bestow a single thought during those anxious 
hours. But when, at the close of da}^ he had won his 


GOOD LUCK AND GOOD GUIDANCE. 


233 


Austerlitz (for indeed it was by no less a name that be 
mentally dubbed the victory that he had gained) and was 
leaning back, exhausted but exultant, in the hansom 
which was bearing him swiftly westwards, he was free 
to let his meditations recur to the minor excitements of 
life; and then it was that he exclaimed, with a retro- 
spective smile, “By Jove! how uncommon near I was 
to putting my foot into it last night! ” 

The danger was over, and he could afford to smile 
at it. But not — oh, no, most certainly not! — to throw 
himself into temptation’s way a second time. He had 
had his lesson; his vulnerability had been made evident 
to him; he had even, in his uncompromising way, ac- 
knowledged to himself that he was “ in love ” with Mari- 
etta — whatever that might mean. It only remained for 
]nm to profit by that lesson and that discovery, and to 
thank his lucky stars that in his case love was not synony- 
mous with sheer madness. Upon that point he was 
complacently exempt from doubt — so much so that he 
indulged in a regretful sigh over what might have been. 
She was exquisite, she was glorious, she was perhaps 
the one woman in the world whom he had it in him 
to adore; but nothing that she could ever give him 
would replace what he must lose by the scandal of an 
elopement; and that she would be satisfied with noth- 
ing short of an elopement was his reading of her char- 
acter. Consequently it would behove him to walk with 
the utmost circumspection; for, although he was de- 
termined to hold Lady Middlewood at arm’s length, he 
did not wish to incur her resentment. 

“ It won’t do to make her hate me,” he mused. 
“ She is very Italian; she wouldn’t allow a slight to go 
unavenged — and a quarrel with Middlewood might be 
an awkward thing. Heavens! into what queer positions 
one drifts! I am half ready to die for her, and yet I do 
believe I would rather kill her with my own hands than 
allow her to spoil my life for me. But this isn’t going 
to be a tragedy,” he concluded, as the hansom drew 
up at his door; “ it’s only a rather bothering little mud- 


234 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


die, which I shall manage to put out of sight and out of 
mind presently.” 

A good many notes and letters were awaiting his pe- 
rusal: amongst others, one with a thin black border and 
a viscounts coronet, which bore no stamp and was in- 
scribed, “ If at home, wait an answer.” He tore the 
envelope open, foreseeing what its contents were likely 
to be; and steeling his heart against probable reproaches; 
hut the tone of the missive was scarcely what he had an- 
ticipated. 

“ Why,” his correspondent inquired, without preface, 
do you telegraph what is so obviously a trumped-up 
excuse? Were you afraid of being bored? — or of what? 
And I have asked one or two people to meet you whom 
you would have been glad to know, and who will be 
dreadfully disappointed. Can you look in to-morrow 
between five and six o’clock? I ask because, as it hap- 
pens, I shall he at home at that hour. Also because 
Lady Maria, wdio is coming to tea, wants to consult you, 
I believe, about some investments. Neither Lionel nor 
I can give her the information that she requires; so you 
might be good natured and advise her. 

Sincerely yours, 

“ M. L.” 

Apparently, then, that luncheon from which he had 
shrunk hack affrighted had not been meant to partake 
of the nature of an assignation. Other people had been 
invited; Lady Middlewood had not contemplated a tUe~ 
d-tete with him; and reading between the lines, he per- 
ceived that she had not only divined his alarm hut had 
been ironically amused by it. This discovery was at 
once reassuring and irritating: clever as Mr. Strahan 
was, he did not suspect that it might possibly have been 
designed to he both. He had never (by reason of the 
heartfelt disdain in which he really held the whole 
sex) taken the trouble to study women as closely as he 
had men, and to seek explanations of their frequent 


GOOD LUCK AND GOOD GUIDANCE. 


235 


inconsequences would have seemed to him rather a waste 
of time. He was not, however, above being angry with 
Marietta for laughing at him when he had anticipated 
tears; so he made haste to despatch a note to Arlington- 
street, in which he said what pleasure it would give him 
to call upon Lady Middlewood at the hour named, and 
how much he regretted that press of business had abso- 
lutely forbidden him to keep his engagement that day. 
She should at least be given to understand, he thought, 
that he was afraid neither of her nor of boredom nor of 
anybody or anything else in the wide world. He added 
that he would be charmed to give Lady Maria Halsted 
such financial advice as his poor knowledge and judg- 
ment could offer, and that — since she desired to consult 
him — he was surprised at her having neglected the many 
previous opportunities which she had had of so doing. 
Lady Maria, with her alleged pecuniary anxieties, was not, 
he presumed, to he taken seriously: Marietta's meaning 
had doubtless been, “ Don^t be alarmed; if you will con- 
sent to come to tea, an unexceptionable chaperon shall 
be present to protect you.” 

However that may have been, he did find the old 
lady waiting for him when he kept his tryst, and she 
astonished him not a little by the practical shrewdness 
of her queries. Hot for nothing had she been the wife 
of the late Mr. Samuel Halsted, and if in some respects 
she was a goose, in others she was far wider awake than 
the majority of her neighbours. 

“ Fifteen or twenty per cent, sounds very nice,” she 
remarked; but, as one can hardly get three and a half 
on good security, the uncertainty of the security which 
you have to offer needs no demonstration. Of course, 
as you say, one may turn an honest penny by selling in 
a rising market; only the thing to find out is how long 
and how far the market can be expected to rise.” 

Mr. Strahan was sorry that, not being endowed 
with the gift of prophecy, he was unable to answer 
that question. Were it in his power to do so, his own 
fortune and that of a select number of his friends would 
16 


236 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


be as good as made. At the same time, he had nothing 
to conceal. Lady Maria now knew as much as he knew, 
and it was for her to decide whether speculation was 
or was not worth her while. Personally, he was of opin- 
ion that speculation was never worth the while of peo- 
ple who were already rich, and if he could afford to live 
upon the interest of a capital invested in consols, he 
would unhesitatingly grant himself that luxury. 

While he was offering these sage counsels, and while 
Lady Maria was protesting that she was anything hut 
rich, that the expense of a London season was ever so 
much greater than it used to be, that the demands of the 
incumbent of St. Winifred’s knew no bounds, and so 
forth, he kept a furtive eye upon Marietta, who took no 
part in the conversation. There was the faint suggestion 
of a smile upon her lips all the time, and whether it 
was an amused or a mocking smile he could not deter- 
mine. Once or twice he addressed himself to her; but 
she made no response. She only spoke to offer him a 
second cup of tea, and, as far as he could judge, she was 
not at all eager to be rid of the third person whose pres- 
ence was becoming every moment more and more intol- 
erable to him. 

At length the old lady rose, remarking graciously 
that she had had a most interesting talk, out of which 
she hoped that the poor of London might ultimately 
derive some benefit, and presently Strahan had the sat- 
isfaction of holding the door open for her. 

“ This talk has not been very interesting to you, 
I am afraid,” said he, as he returned towards the low 
chair in which Marietta was reclining. 

“ Not in itself,” she answered; but it has been in- 
teresting, after a fashion, to listen to you. I never feel 
quite sure whether you are speaking the truth or not.” 

“ Thank you, Lady Middle wood; this is the second 
time that you have paid me that compliment. Would 
it be too presumptuous to inquire on what occasion you 
have heard me tell a lie? ” 

She laughed. ^^When I was being educated in an 


GOOD LUCK AND GOOD GUIDANCE. 


237 


Italian convent,” she replied, “ I used to be taught that 
the sin of lying consists in conveying false impressions, 
not in stating what is contrary to the fact. I am sure 
I can’t tell whether you have conveyed any false im- 
pressions to Lady Maria; but I can see that she is going 
to buy your shares — and that, I imagine, was what you 
wanted her to do.” 

I don’t care a straw whether she becomes a share- 
holder or not,” Strahan declared, with some warmth. 

For choice, I would rather that she didn’t — seeing 
that she may lose her money, and will certainly blame me 
if she does. You are not fair to me. If ever I have been 
candid with anybody, I have been so with you; although 
I have lowered your opinion of me by my candour, and 
although I have sometimes been more strongly tempted 
than you know of to depart from it.” 

The night before last, for instance ? ” she asked 
suddenly, raising her eyes. 

“ Yes, I suppose so,” he answered, letting his fall. 

There was a brief silence, during which the hissing 
of the tea-kettle on its stand and the muffled roar of 
the trafflc outside became almost oppressively audible. 

“ So you were not candid then,” resumed Marietta 
at last. “ Well, I must say that I did not think you were, 
and that absolves you from the guilt of conveying false 
impressions. The times when you have been really 
candid have been when you have assured me that you 
are absolutely and contentedly selfish. Is that it?” 

If,” he began, drawing a step nearer, “ I were as 
selfish as you make me out ” 

But it was impossible to finish the sentence, impos- 
sible to tell her that most men would have made a very 
different use of the opportunities which she had been 
pleased to accord to him. So he left her to fill up the 
blank, which she did by saying, with perfect com- 
posure: 

“ You would lay siege to my susceptible heart, per- 
haps? Well, I do not forbid you to try. It even seemed 
to me that you did try a little the other night. But 


238 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


really the danger is not so great as you imagine — though 
of course it is much to your credit that you should have 
decided, on second thoughts, to spare me.^^ 

He bit his lips. He had more than half a mind to 
take up her challenge, and more than half a suspicion 
that he might do so successfully. But he only re- 
marked: 

This brings us back to our old difficulty. You 
may remember telling me at Ludworth that you doubted 
the possibility of friendship between a man and a woman. 
Evidently you are of the same opinion still.” 

You have done something to confirm me in it,” 
she rejoined. But then, to be sure, you were not, as 
you say, sincere at the time.” 

In this way a very able man found himself between 
the horns of a rather awkward dilemma. Was he to 
assure Lady Middlewood that his sentiments for her 
were those of friendship alone, or should he (seeing that 
she was disposed to take so dispassionate a view of things) 
boldly avow that he had over-estimated his powders of re- 
sistance? It was with ‘the deepest relief and the most 
heartfelt joy that he hailed the entrance, at that high- 
ly critical juncture, of Lady Middle wood’s husband, and 
was thus enabled to dispense with both alternatives. 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

TIME FOR CONSIDERATION. 

It was a matter of unanimous agreement among the 
disposers and dispensers of patronage that something 
would have to be done soon for young Lord Middlewood. 
He had succeeded to the title at a somewhat inopportune 
moment for his political prospects; but he had done 
good service to the party, he had worked well both 


TIME FOR CONSIDERATION. 


239 


in the country and in the House of Commons, and some 
acknoAvledgment was clearly his due. The misfortune 
was that there were already too many members of the 
Ministry in the Upper House; so that, even in the event 
of a vacancy occurring, it would be scarcely advisable 
to fill it by the appointment of another peer. Under 
these circumstances, there appeared to be every probabil- 
ity that Lionel would be left for a considerable length 
of time to derive such comfort and consolation as he 
could from polite and appreciative speeches. 

But something is sure to turn up,^^ said St. Quin- 
tin, who was ambitious for his friend and sanguine on 
his friend’s behalf. Things always turn up w^hen 
they are least expected, and nobody’s claims are likely 
to take precedence of yours.” 

Lionel, for his own part, did not anticipate office. 
He had discovered that he possesed certain abilities, and 
w'ould have been glad of an occasion for turning them 
to account; but his modesty would not allow him to 
doubt that there were a great many men as well equipped 
as he in that respect, and he was well aware that, for 
the reason above specified, the Under Secretaryship which 
represented the limit of his aspirations was unlikely to 
fall to him. 

All the greater, therefore, was his surprise when, 
one fine day, he received the offer of an important In- 
dian Governorship, which was just about to be vacated. 
He had heard various prominent personages named as 
likely to succeed the actual occupant of that post, whose 
term of office had nearly expired; but it had not oc- 
curred to him that he himself might be in the running, 
and his first impulse was towards prompt and grateful 
acceptance. However, the Minister who sounded Lord 
Middlewood upon the subject did not seem to expect 
either promptitude or gratitude. 

Of course,” he observed, it means five years 
exile, and that is a serious drawback, I grant you; for 
you don’t want to let your place and economise, as most 
of us do. All the same, if I may venture to offer a 


240 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


word of advice, I wouldn’t refuse without having thought 
it over. It is always a great thing, you see, to have held 
some such appointment as this — looking to the future, 
I mean. Take a week for consideration; we can easily 
allow you a week.” 

If Lionel availed himself of this gracious permission, 
it was not because he felt any difficulty about making 
up his mind. Large though his rent-roll was, he was a 
good deal hampered for the moment by the expenses at- 
tendant upon his succession, and an opportunity for 
effecting easy retrenchments was not to be neglected. 
But, setting that aside, the idea of being placed in a 
position of responsibility and authority was pleasant to 
him, and he quite hoped that it would be pleasant also 
to his wife. Marietta, he knew, had a little weakness 
for what he called “ swagger; ” she would certainly en- 
joy representing the Queen and being preceded by a 
mounted escort when she went out for a drive. So, 
with no misgivings on that score, he hastened home 
to tell his news, and arrived, as has been said, just in 
time to rescue a friend from an embarrassing predica- 
ment. 

In Strahan’s presence nothing, of course, could be 
divulged respecting a communication which had to be 
regarded for the time being as confidential, and Lionel, 
while giving him a hearty greeting, rather wished that 
he would take himself off. This, however, he appeared 
to be in no immediate hurry to do. The fact was that 
Strahan, a trifle confused and troubled, notwithstand^ 
ing his relief, was anxious above all things to avoid 
appearing so, and to make it clear that he was only 
calling on Lady Middle wood in the discharge of a rec- 
ognised social obligation. He, therefore, remained 
where he was and talked with rather more than his usual 
fluency, while Marietta, who did nothing at all to help 
him out, surveyed him critically from the other side 
of the tea-table. 

Presently a servant came in with a message for Lio- 
nel. Somebody wished to know whether his lordship 


TIME FOR CONSIDERATION. 


241 


was disengaged; so he got up, saying, “ Very well; show 
him into the library. Don’t go away, Strahan; I shall 
be back in a minute.” 

Strahan, who had also risen, made a movement as 
if to follow him, but was arrested, partly by the rapid- 
ity of Lionel’s exit and partly by a not less rapid per- 
ception on his own part of the futility of running away. 
Were he to do so, he would unquestionably live to meet 
the same danger another day, and after all there is 
great virtue in an interruption. Consequently, he 
deemed it best to say, in a brisk, cheerful tone of voice: 

“ Well, Lady Middle wood, I am sure you must be 
thoroughly tired of me by this time, and we shall both 
be late for dinner if we don’t go and dress now.” 

“ Oh, I am not tired of you,” answered Marietta 
calmly; on the contrary, I don’t know that I have 
ever found you more entertaining than you have been 
this afternoon. Still, if you are eager to get away, I 
won’t keep you.” 

He was very eager indeed to get away, and very 
glad to make his escape; although he left the house 
with an irritated and unwonted sense of discomfiture. 
Had he not, he wondered, feared his fate too much? 
Hade he not, perhaps, made a mistake in assuming that 
this woman was more primitive, more rash, more likely 
to prove compromising than other women of the class 
to which she now belonged? Assuredly she had be- 
haved very much as one of them might have behaved, 
and in all probability she was even now laughing at him. 

She was not doing that; but a smile of gratified tri- 
umph hovered about her lips for some little time after 
her visitor had left her. Primitive or otherwise, she 
was at all events a woman, and it could not but be ob- 
vious to her that she had succeeded in doing what she 
had wished and intended to do from the first. Mr. 
Strahan at the outset of their acquaintance had as good 
as defied her, and she had retorted by subjugating him: 
that was quite sufficient to render her temporarily 
happy. Her desire — or so she told herself — had been 


242 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


to hook her fish, rather than to land him; she was not at 
all sure that she cared about Strahan^s friendship, and 
very nearly sure that she did not believe in it. He in- 
terested her; he differed from the average Englishman; 
she felt a certain satisfaction in having made his strong 
will bend to hers and a certain curiosity as to the nature 
of their future relations: that was all. Very likely she 
would have begun to despise him, as women are apt to 
despise their captives, had it not still remained excit- 
ingly doubtful whether he would not contrive to snap 
the slender thread by which he was held. 

Lionel soon returned, to break in upon her com- 
placent meditations. 

“Has Strahan decamped?” he asked. “Well, I 
am not sorry; for I have a piece of intelligence for your 
private ear. I have had what I consider a great com- 
pliment paid to me this afternoon, and I want to hear 
how it strikes you.” 

It struck her, when she had been informed of the 
honour which was likely to he bestowed upon her hus- 
band, almost exactly as he had expected that it would. 
She roused herself from her reclining attitude, the light 
kindled in her eyes; upon the first blush of the thing 
it seemed to her that she would like nothing better than 
to play at royalty for a season. Ho doubt one of the 
causes of her discontent and disillusionment was that, 
although she was a personage in virtue of being Vis- 
countess Middlewood, her destiny was to dwell amongst 
many other personages as great and greater. To be the 
undisputed head of a community would be a different 
and a far more alluring experience by her way of think- 
ing. But second thoughts suggested drawbacks. 

“Five years is a very long time,” she remarked. 
“We should be able to come home for a few months 
every now and then, I suppose?” 

“Well, no,” answered Lionel; “I am afraid not. 
That is to say, I should not, for Indian Governors are 
not allowed leave; but you, of course, could.” 

Marietta contracted her brows and looked at him. 


TIME FOR CONSIDERATION. 


243 


If she had ever he^ in love with her husband she 
was not in love with him now; yet he had the knack of 
occasionally provoking her into a sentiment not far re- 
moved from love. 

Thank you,” she replied. “ You wouldn’t a bit 
mind my leaving you, then? ” 

My dear girl, I didn’t say I shouldn’t mind it, 
and I hope you wouldn’t want to do it. I only mean 
that it would he practicable if necessary.” 

I see; and you are really ready to give up every- 
thing — your racing and your shooting and all the things 
you care about, not to speak of the people — for five long 
years! ” 

He shrugged his shoulders. One must take the 
rough with the smooth. It is impossible to go away with- 
out leaving a good deal behind — that’s of course.” 

“We may have to leave Bob behind,” resumed Mari- 
etta presently. (Her son and heir had received the name 
of Robert, as the first of a long string of less plebeian 
ones.) “ European children can’t live in India, can 
they? I dare say you never thought of that.” 

But Lionel had thought of it; it had been, in fact, 
the very first thing that he had thought of, and he had 
been immediately reassured by the Secretary of State, 
who chanced to be related to the retiring Governor. 
“ Oh, that would be all right,” he said; “ how could 
you imagine that I should dream of separating you 
from Bob? It seems that there is no risk in the case 
of such young children: besides, we should spend a good 
deal of our time in the hills, where there is a sort of 
English climate. If that is your only objection it may 
be dismissed.” 

That, however, was not her only objection, although 
the numerous others which she proceeded to put for- 
ward sounded somewhat trivial. She ended by saying: 
“Well, I suppose we are not obliged to make up our 
minds this very moment?” 

“ Oh, no,” answered Lionel; “ I am allowed a week 
to think it over. But as far as I am concerned, my 


2U 


MARIETTA'S MARRIAGE. 


mind is pretty well made up; I think it would be a great 
mistake to let such a chance slip.’^ 

He looked so anxiously at her that even if she had 
been dying to accept the appointment she would have 
been unable to resist keeping him a little longer in sus- 
pense. So that in fact all depends upon me ? she re- 
marked. Suppose I were to say that nothing would 
induce me to submit to banishment? ” 

He shrugged his shoulders again. “ In that case, 
of course, I should have to decline with thanks. But I 
shall be rather sorry and rather surprised if you do say 
so.” 

Marietta, who was going out to dinner, mused over 
that statement with considerable satisfaction after she 
had placed herself in the hands of her maid. There 
were two men in the world whose destinies she desired 
to control, and it looked very much as if her ambition 
had been, or was about to be, gratified. Not that she 
put the case to herself in those words, or was even fully 
conscious that such was the case. What she was con- 
scious of was a new and agreeable sense of power, to- 
gether with a good deal of curiosity to hear what Mr. 
Strahan would say when informed of her probable de- 
parture from England. She quite intended to inform 
Strahan; nor was her intention at all modified by what 
Lionel said presently as they drove off together towards 
the house at which they were to dine. 

^^By the way. Marietta, don’t let anybody know of 
this appointment having been offered to me. The offer 
hasn’t been made officially, you see, and it would be a 
breach of confidence to mention it.” 

She was, at all events, not tempted to mention it to 
anybody whom she met that evening, and during the 
next few days Strahan made no sign. Several times in 
the course of those days Lionel asked her whether she had 
come to a decision yet; but she always replied tranquilly, 
I am thinking it over. You said I might think it over 
for a week.” 

She was not, in truth, any nearer to a decision than 


TIME FOR CONSIDERATION. 


245 


she had been at the outset. The first thing that was 
likely to help her towards one would be the interview 
with Mr. Strahan, to which she looked forward confi- 
dently and without impatience. It might prove neces- 
sary to summon him by a note; but she did not think it 
would be. Inexperienced though she was, she had that 
intuitive knowledge respecting certain subjects which is 
the property of her sex, and she was perfectly well aware 
that her so-called friend would be irresistibly drawn 
back to Arlington-street ere long, despite the many 
excellent reasons that he might have for shunning that 
quarter. 

He did not disappoint her. On the following Sun- 
day afternoon (she had foreseen that he would be at 
leisure on Sunday afternoon, and had remained at home 
on that account) he was announced, and the half-de- 
fiant, half-shamefaced air which he was not very suc- 
cessful in disguising told her at once all that she wanted 
to know. 

“ This is splendidly courageous of you,^’ said she. 
“ I thought I should never have the honour of receiving 
3'^ou alone again after the fright I gave you the last time 
you were here.^^ 

He did not smile, nor did he invite her to explain 
herself. On the contrary, he frowned heavily, and ap- 
peared to think that no explanation of her method of 
greeting him was required. 

“ I don’t think I am very easily frightened,” he an- 
swered, after a pause. I have come back because — 
well, because I find that I can’t get on without seeing 
you sometimes, I suppose.” 

Oh, no,” she returned coolly, you have 
come back because you can’t bear the idea of looking 
ridiculous and because you have an uncomfortable 
impression that I thought you ridiculous the other 
day.” 

This, without being precisely the truth, was so near 
it tliat he almost started. The woman with whom he 
had fallen in love against his will could read him with as 


246 


MARIETTA'S MARRIAGE. 


little difficulty as he had hitherto experienced in read- 
ing her, then! 

''Oh, is that it?” said he. "But perhaps we may 
leave motives alone. Here I am, anyhow.” 

" Yes, here you are,” she rejoined, with much cheer- 
fulness; " and that, as you evidently think, is the chief 
thing. I hope you will he glad to hear that I didn’t 
think you so very ridiculous, and I hope you will he 
sorry to hear that very soon it won’t matter a bit what 
I think about you, seeing that I shall be thousands of 
miles away.” 

She proceeded abruptly to state her news, allowing 
him to infer that the matter was settled, and watching 
him narrowly while she did so. But this time his com- 
pressed lips and lowered eyes revealed nothing. He 
neither changed colour nor moved a muscle: he seemed 
so little astonished that she ended by asking: 

"Have you heard of this already? Lionel repre- 
sented it to me as a profound secret; hut I am always the 
last person to be let into his secrets! ” 

" Ho,” answered Strahan, looking up; " oh, no; I 
hadn’t the least idea that anything of the sort was in 
contemplation.” He added meditatively, " If Middle- 
wood goes to India ” 

He did not conclude his sentence, and Marietta said 
" well? ” in interrogative accents. 

" I was only wondering whether that would entail 
his retirement from our board. I hope not; hut he is so 
punctilious that I am almost afraid it will.” 

The man was obviously sincere. There could not 
he the least doubt that his first thought, on hearing an 
announcement which had been intended to throw him 
into consternation, was for the Company which he 
served, not for the lady who had flattered herself that 
he was her servant, and this unexpected turning of the 
tables upon her left Marietta speechless with chagrin. 
But after a moment he shook off his preoccupation. 

" And you ? ” he asked suddenly. " Do you relish 
the prospect of being packed off in such a hurry and 


TIME FOR CONSIDERATION. 247 

expelled for such a very long time from your native 
land?’^ 

She replied by a gesture of disdainful indifference, 
England can scarcely be called my native land,” she 
remarked, and really with the exception of Betty, 
there is nobody in England whom I particularly wish to 
see again.” 

He made her a little smiling bow. You know how 
to cauterise the wounds that you inflict,” said he. 

But cautery can only be resorted as a remedy in the 
case of very superficial wounds, and certainly it had not 
been her intention to heal any that he might have re- 
ceived at her hands. If at that moment she could have 
stabbed him, metaphorically, to the heart, stabbed he 
would have been; but it was evident that his heart was 
Avell protected. 

I will make a point,” she told him, of begging 
Lionel not to resign his directorship. Then you will 
be quite happy.” 

“ Happy! — with the prospect of losing sight of you 
for five years, if not for ever? I think you know a little 
better than that. Lady Middlewood.” 

I know better,” she replied, with an outward com- 
posure which did her credit, “than to believe one sin- 
gle word that you say. For the rest, it is not certain 
that we shall go to India. All depends upon me, and I 
depend upon the mood that I may happen to be in.” 

“ Don’t go! ” he exclaimed suddenly, bending for- 
ward and clasping his hands. 

She rose, without making any response to this en- 
treaty. “ Will you think me very rude,” she asked, “ if 
I beg you to excuse me and say good-bye for the pres- 
ent? I have promised to meet Lionel at Tattersall’s 
before five o’clock, and I shall only just have time to 
drive there.” 

She did not wait for the permission which he could 
not refuse, but retired with some show of hurry, leaving 
him to find his own way out of the house. 


248 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

INDIA GOES TO THE WALL. 

If Marietta had made a half promise to join her 
husband at TattersalFs, he was not aware of it, nor 
would it ever have occurred to him to expect her appear- 
ance at a resort which he himself seldom neglected to 
patronise on Sunday afternoons. But the paramount 
importance of dismissing an antagonist with whom she 
felt, on a sudden, powerless to cope had necessitated 
some excuse; so she had said the first thing that chanced 
to come into her head. 

She hastened up stairs to her luxurious bedroom, 
locked the door and cast herself down upon a sofa. 
There were tears in her eyes; but whether they were tears 
of sorrow or anger or mortification she hardly knew. 
For the matter of that, she hardly knew why she should 
be so upset, or why she should have been driven to seek 
safety in ignominious flight. Troops who become de- 
moralised and take to their heels under fire seldom 
know, it is said, what they are about, and panic is quite 
as likely to be caused by an imaginary danger as by a 
real one. But what admits of no doubt from the mo- 
ment that they turn and run is that they are beaten, and 
this was the humiliating conviction brought home by her 
own act, to Marietta. Her relations with Strahan had 
always partaken of the character of a contest; her sup- 
posed capture of him had rendered her exultant just be- 
cause it had been achieved in the teeth of his undisguised 
struggles for freedom; and now, lo and behold! it ap- 
peared she had exulted too soon. Like a disconsolate 
fisherman whose straightened rod and broken, ineffec- 
tual line, have an eloquence beyond words, she could but 
groan and mutter forlornly, “ Oh, what a fool — what a 
fool I have been! 

But was it, after all, such a tragic affair? Suppose 
Mr. Strahan did care more about gold mines and busi- 


INDIA GOES TO THE WALL. 


249 


ness transactions than about anything else in the world; 
suppose it was a matter of comparative indifference to 
him whether Lord and Lady Middlewood betook them- 
selves to Asia or not, so long as the former continued to 
be one of the directors of the famous company; suppose, 
in a word, he had his emotions so well under control that 
they might always be relied upon to come to heel when 
called — what then? It is annoying no doubt to be 
beaten, and especially annoying, to be beaten in the 
moment of fancied victory; but defeat — or, at all events, 
defeat of that kind — is scarcely a thing to cry about. 
Why not decide at once that the grapes are sour? 

To such a question there is one, and perhaps only 
one, convincing answer. It was Marietta’s misfortune 
to make that answer, and she made it, for the sake of 
additional emphasis, aloud. 

^^Yes,” she exclaimed, ^^I do love him! Or else I 
hate him. I don’t quite know which it is; but this I know 
— I would rather die than leave him! ” 

Then she became a little ashamed of herself — a lit- 
tle, but not very much. If she was to blame so was 
Lionel, who ought to have understood how impossible 
it was for a nature like hers to rest satisfied with the 
lukewarm, domestic affection which in his case had so 
soon replaced love. How could he expect her to be in 
love with him, now that he was so evidently no longer 
in love with her? It was wrong, of course, to be in 
love with somebody else — if, indeed, she was really in 
love with Mr. Strahan — but so many things which are 
called wrong cannot possibly be helped! What might 
easily enough be helped was lingering in the neighbour- 
hood of a recognised peril; but she had neither the 
strength of purpose nor the self-abnegation to leave 
England. She had been instructed to make up her mind, 
and it was now made up. The Indian Government 
must manage its affairs to the best of its ability without 
the assistance of Lord Middlewood. And when she 
heard him moving about in his adjoining dressing- 
room (for the self-communings summarised above had 


f 


250 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


occupied her a long time) she resolved to make her de- 
cision known without further delay. 

Lionel/’ she said, abruptly invading his territory, 
we are not going to India.” 

He turned an astonished countenance towards her. 
It was a warm, close evening, and he had divested him- 
self of his coat and waistcoat; but the dressing hour had 
not yet arrived; so that his valet was not present to be 
scandalised by this unusual and unexpected appearance 
of her ladyship. 

“ Hot going to India! ” he repeated. What makes 
you say that? You don’t mean that they have offered 
the appointment to some other fellow! ” 

Marietta laughed rather nervously. She had no idea 
of faltering in her purpose; but it did make her feel a 
little nervous to remember that in her haste she had 
omitted to provide herself with plausible reasons. 

I can’t tell you anything about that,” she answered. 
The Secretary of State has not been here, and I don’t 
suppose he would have taken me into his confidence if 
he had. But somebody else will have to be appointed; 
because we are going to decline. I have been thinking 
it over, as you said you wished me to do, and I see that 
the drawbacks would be out of all proportion to the 
advantages. On Bob’s account alone, we ought to re- 
fuse I think; for I can’t believe that it is really safe to 
take babies into such a climate. And then there is the 
horrid voyage — and the being cut off from everybody 
whom one knows — and the nuisance of having to enter- 
tain a horde of dull officials and their wives every day — 
and — and — oh, fifty things! It would really be sheer 
lunacy for us to expatriate ourselves; I am sure you 
must agree with me that it would! It stands to reason 
that if you must needs have employment, you are pow- 
erful enough to ask for something at home.” 

Lionel shook his head. He had not, he assured her, 
the power which she was pleased to give him credit for 
possessing, and if he should spurn the important and 
much-coveted post which had been offered to him, Min- 


INDIA GOES TO THE WALL. 


251 


isters would certainly give him to understand that he 
must expect no further acknowledgment of his slight 
claims upon their patronage. Then he made her state 
all her objections categorically, and combated them, one 
by one, until — feeling that she was getting the worst 
of the discussion — she cut it short by exclaiming, with 
sudden impatience: 

“ Oh, what is the use of arguing! You wonT con- 
vince me, and I shanT convince you, and I dare say the 
Government is not open to conviction. Suppose you say 
simply that you are cursed with a capricious wife, who 
wonT let you go? That will absolve you, and it will 
have the additional advantage of being true.” 

Lionel doubted whether it would he held to absolve 
him; hut he did think that there was a good deal of truth 
in the assertion. Yet, in spite of his disappointment, 
which was keener than she realised, he did not lose his 
temper. 

“ It isn’t a question of actual duty,” he remarked. 

If it were I might take the liberty of saying that I can’t 
give way to mere caprice. But I won’t say that; I will 
only ask you whether you can’t stretch a point to please 
me. I believe you would like the life when you got 
out there, and I confess I do very much want to go. 
Can you do me this favour? ” 

Marietta frowned. Ho,” she answered sullenly. 

I can’t. You may order me to go, if you choose, and 
then I should have to obey, I suppose; hut I will never go 
of my own free will. I should hate it! ” 

“ All right,” answered Lionel, quite quietly and 
pleasantly; ^^then we’ll say no more about the matter. 
Heaven forbid that I should order you to do anything 
that you would hate! And we won’t quarrel over it 
either,” he added, perceiving that she still looked angry 
and resentful. 

Her looks were the outward and visible signs of her 
sensations. Considering what her true reason for wish- 
ing to remain in England was, she could not hut resent 
this air of generous magnanimity on her husband’s part. 

IT 


252 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


AYithout even knowing how much in the wrong she was, 
lie had yet contrived to make her seem almost absurdly 
in the wrong; and this was the more aggravating of him 
because he could not really be burning with anxiety 
to waste five years of his life in Hindostan. So she had 
neither thanks nor apologies at his service. 

I am sure I don^t want to quarrel,” she returned 
coldly; “I don't see what there is to quarrel about. 
You told me that I was to make up my mind whether 
I wanted to go to India or not, and I have done as I 
was told. I am sorry that I couldn't give the answer 
which you seem to have expected; hut '' 

“ Oh, that's all right! that's all right! '' interrupted 
Lionel cheerfully. “ We'll think no more about the 
thing; we'll treat it as a closed chapter.'' 

He was as good as his word. He went to the India 
Office the next morning to say that, after full consid- 
eration, he felt compelled by domestic reasons to relin- 
quish the idea of leaving home, and from that moment 
he appeared to dismiss the subject from his mind. He 
had not, indeed, mentioned it to anybody, except his 
wife, and if he harboured any lurking feeling of soreness 
against her, he was either too proud or too generous to 
display it. 

As for Marietta, she really could not afford to allow 
him credit for generosity. AYhen one is aware of having 
committed a somewhat shabby action, one must either 
abstain from respecting those who are likely to suffer 
thereby or else let one's self-respect go by the hoard, and 
the former course is generally found preferable to the 
latter. So Lady Middlewood made things comfortable 
with her conscience by concluding that her husband was 
too weak a man to insist upon having his own way, and 
too easy-going to mind very much being deprived of it. 
She was far less pre-occupied with thoughts of him than 
of a man who was neither weak nor easy-going, and to 
whom the abandonment of the Indian scheme might 
only too probably represent itself in the light of a per- 
sonal compliment. What was she to say to Mr. Stra- 


INDIA GOES TO THE WALL. 


253 


han (whom she had already begun to call “ Eoland 
mentally) at their next meeting? She knew him well 
enough by this time to know how little chance there 
was of his being taken in by fibs. 

She had not long to wait for their 'next meeting, 
which took place at an afternoon concert, given by a 
benevolent Duchess in aid of some insolvent charitable 
organisation or other. Marietta, who had of late ob- 
stinately refused to lift up her voice in public, had been 
persuaded to make an exception on this occasion, and 
she was rewarded for a couple of songs by louder and 
more sustained applause than is usually to be got out 
of so well-dressed an audience. The long room in which 
the concert was held was darkened by lowered sun- 
blinds, so that she did not recognise many acquaintances 
amongst those to whom she bowed her acknowledg- 
ments; but it was impossible to help seeing Strahan, who 
‘was seated in the second row, and who lingered, after 
the conclusion of the performance, with the obvious 
intention of accosting one of the performers. 

I have a confession to make,” he began, as soon 
as that intention had been successfully accomplished; 

I want to tell you that — ^to my sorrow — I have no 
ear for music, and am utterly incapable of appreciating 
what I have just heard.” 

I suspected as much long ago,” returned Marietta 
disdainfully; “ I was almost sure that the compliments 
which you were pleased to pay me upon my singing 
were not sincere, and I canT understand why you thought 
it worth while to pay them. Still less can I understand 
your paying half-a-guinea to sit in a stuffy room on a hot 
afternoon and clap your hands when somebody makes a 
noise that you don't like.” 

^‘Everything is explained by the simple fact that 
you were that somebody. I didnT clap my hands for any- 
body else, and it was delightful to have an excuse for 
doing what I feel tempted to do every time that 1 see 
you. Besides, I felt it a matter of sheer necessity to 
make some public demonstration of joy over the news 


254 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


which I saw in this morning’s papers that Sir Some- 
body Something — I don’t know who he is, and I’m sure 
it doesn’t matter — has been appointed to that Indian 
governorship. Is it allowed to me to express my grati- 
tude, as well as my joy? ” 

I don’t know,” answered Marietta: but I should 
think it was. At any rate, I am sure Lionel will he glad 
to have avoided putting you to inconvenience by giving 
up his directorship.” 

My dear Lady Middlewood, I have the highest es- 
teem and regard for your husband; but I really can’t 
flatter myself that he has refused an appointment rather 
than risk putting me to inconvenience. You told me, 
you know, that it rested solely with you to say whether 
the appointment should be accepted or rejected; so 
it can only be to you that my humble and heartfelt thanks 
are due.” 

She could not have sworn that there was any sug- 
gestion of mockery either in his voice or in his smile; 
yet her colour rose and a gleam of wrath came for a mo- 
ment into her eyes. Even if he guessed — and she was 
afraid he did guess — the truth, he had no right to be 
so ungenerous! She managed, however, to produce a 
stare and a rather disagreeable laugh for his benefit. 

“Why in the world should you thank me?” she 
asked. “ Do you by any chance flatter yourself that I 
am staying in England for your convenience? Ce serial 
un pen fort! ” 

He was not in the least disconcerted; although he 
affected to be. And what was worse was that he was 
not in the least misled. That much she was able to de- 
tect, notwithstanding his respectful assurances that he 
spoke merely as one of a large number of people who 
must needs feel grateful to her for sparing them a be- 
reavement. “ The sun doesn’t rise in order to make 
. me comfortable,” he remarked; “ but that doesn’t pre- 
vent me from rejoicing in sunshine and shivering under 
a gray sky.” 

She turned upon him with something of the im- 


INDIA GOES TO THE WALL. 


255 


potent anger of an animal caught in a trap. ‘^Why- 
do you address such silly hanaliUs to me? Why did you 
pretend to he fond of music, when you know nothing 
about it? Why do you never tell the truth? ” 

It was characteristic of this queer and prolonged 
duel between two persons, neither of whom was alto- 
gether in earnest, that, in the course of it, parries and 
thrusts were for ever changing places, and that what 
had been intended for the former not unfrequently 
proved ordinarily to he the latter. Strahan, who, accord- 
ing to the rules of the game, should have been push- 
ing his advantage, now perceptibly fell back. The 
truth? Good heavens! what would she demand next? 
And in that public place too! He began hastily to de- 
fend himself against her charge of insincerity. 

Of course I ought to have acknowledged before 
now that I canT distinguish one tune from another; 
but nobody likes to parade his infirmities. One doesn’t 
go about the world proclaiming that one has a deaf ear 
or a glass eye or a set of false teeth. Moreover, I proved 
my repentance by confessing of my own accord. I did 
so just because I wanted to convince you that you are 
not fair when you bring these accusations against me. 
I consider that, as a rule, I am a very truthful man.” 

A man whose truthfulness has never been called in 
question by those who know him, but whose judgment 
was perhaps liable to be warped by prejudice, was at 
that moment pronouncing an altogether different opin- 
ion of Mr. Strahan. 

''Well, since you ask me,” St. Quintin was say- 
ing, " I don’t much like the fellow, and I don’t much 
believe in him. He isn’t straight — at least, not accord- 
ing to my ideas. All the same, old Hicks and other big 
City men profess to have confidence in him. He may 
be all right; but I shouldn’t trust him with money my- 
self, if I had any to invest.” 

The military-looking old gentleman to whom this 
rather imprudent statement was made had no money to 
invest, nor any curiosity respecting Mr. Strahan’s finan- 


256 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


cial soundness. On the other hand, he would have felt 
vaguely distrustful of any man who should have called 
up into Lady Middlewood’s countenance the expression 
which he was watching from afar, and his fingers 
twitched nervously, as they stroked his waxed mous- 
tache. 

I met him down at Ludworth last year,” he re- 
marked. He is a fine horseman, and he struck me as 
a clever, pleasant fellow. But you know, my dear Mr. 
St. Quintin, so many of these devilish pleasant fellows 
are — are ” 

He did not proceed to say what they were, but broke 
off, with a somewhat forced laugh. “Well, it’s none of 
my business,” he said. “ How I must go and speak to 
my daughter, who will give me a nice scolding, I expect, 
for arriving in London unannounced.” 

The room had emptied itself slowly — as the rooms 
of ducal personages, which are temporarily placed at the 
service of the paying public, are rather apt to do — 
but by this time the audience had almost dispersed, and 
Colonel Vigne had only to make his way through sortie 
rows of intervening chairs in order to approach his 
daughter, whose back was turned towards him. He drew 
near in time to catch the fag-end of a speech which was 
intended for her neighbour’s ear alone. 

“ I can be at home and alone almost any afternoon, 
if I am given previous notice,” the Colonel heard her 
say. 

Then Strahan recognised him, and immediately after- 
ward Marietta, whisking round, did the same. Excla- 
mations, greetings, and upbraidings followed, under cover 
of which Strahan slipped quietly away. 

“ Oh, I have no excuse to make for myself,” said 
the old gentleman, to whom his daughter’s reproaches 
were not wholly unwelcome. “ It is atrocious of me to 
drop upon you from the skies like this; but what would 
you have? I don’t wish to be a burden upon my son- 
in-law; yet I have only one child and only one grand- 
child. Consequently ” 


THE DEVOUT LOVER. 


257 


Consequently,” rejoined Marietta, “ when you do 
come to England, you might, I think, consent to live 
under the same roof with them. You certainly would, 
if you knew how much one of them wants you.” 

She meant what she said. Very often she wanted her 
father, and just now he seemed to her to have been sent 
by Heaven for the express purpose of protecting her from 
an impending peril. 

“ What has brought you here, of all places? ” she 
asked. 

“ An advertisement which I saw in the paper, as I 
was travelling up from Dover yesterday,” he replied. 

Ho, my dear, I can’t quarter myself upon your hus- 
band; but ITl drive home with you now, if I may. I 
want to have a look at the boy.” 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE DEVOUT LOVER. 

The shadow of black care was not very far distant 
from Colonel Vigne’s elbow while he reclined in his 
daughter’s luxurious equipage and chatted, with every 
outward show of cheerfulness and elderly high spirits. 
The truth was that his daughter reminded him terribly 
of her mother, and there had been episodes in her moth- 
er’s existence which he would have been well pleased 
to be able to forget. The late Mrs. Vigne, unhappily, 
had not been an altogether model wife, and although, 
in one sense, her husband was remorsefully conscious 
of having misunderstood her, in another sense he had 
understood her only too well. Was he now, in his old 
age, to suffer again those torments of anxiety, those 
humiliating fits of impotent rage against men with 
whom it was difficult to pick a quarrel, which had 


258 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


embittered the days of his youth? Flirtation is an elas- 
tic term, which may be made to cover a multitude of 
sins, as well as a multitude of proceedings which it would 
be an exaggeration to call sinful. He had never known 
for certain what the nature of his wife^s proceedings had 
been; but he Jmew that she had made him thoroughly 
unhappy, and it made his heart sink to see Marietta 
treating Strahan after much the same fashion as certain 
Austrian officers, now gray-headed or dead, had been 
treated by one to whom she bore so striking a physical 
resemblance. He knew better, however, than to re- 
’monstrate with her or catechise her. He asked a few 
careless questions, indeed, and received answers which 
he surmised to be disingenuous; but there he stopped. 
Experience warned him against speaking as plainly to 
his daughter as he had done to St. Quintin. 

St. Quintin, meanwhile, was walking slowly towards 
his club, with his hands behind his back and a bent 
head, full of thoughts wherein Lady Middlewood and 
Strahan had no share. The troubles, the follies, the des- 
tinies of our neighbours become interesting when we 
ourselves have reached middle-life, and have a little 
breathing space in which to watch the progress of the 
unvarying, yet mildly exciting human tragi-comedy 
which is being enacted around us; but in youth we are 
naturally apt to be pre-occupied with our own affairs, 
and the affairs of this young man had taken an ill turn. 

They had taken, that is to say, a turn which, as a 
reasonable, sensible being, he could not but call de- 
plorable; although he would not, if the choice could 
have been offered him, have had them altered. This, 
of course, means — are there any other circumstances 
under which such a condition of feeling would be pos- 
sible? — that a man who was nothing, if not sensible, 
had fallen in love with a lady hopelessly out of his reach. 
For some days past St. Quintin had been aware that 
he stood in that rather absurd position, and calling him- 
self by various unflattering names had not altered it in 
the least. It was a thing which must be submitted to. 


THE DEVOUT LOVER. 


259 


like any other incurable malady, and which, like some 
incurable maladies, admitted of concealment from the 
unsympathetic gaze of bystanders. The only question 
was whether it did or did not behove him to steer clear 
of further contact with its cause. He did not consider 
that he was placing his reputation for common sense in 
jeopardy by answering that question in the negative. 

Having caught a disease,^^ said he to himself, “ one 
canT catch it over again, that’s certain, and I don’t see 
what possible harm it can do me to go to St. Winifred’s 
next Sunday. Perhaps it will do me as little good as 
it has to attend this tedious concert, at which she never 
appeared, after all; but I’m willing to take my chance. 
On the one side there’s the possible disappointment of 
not seeing her, and the probable misery of seeing her in 
the company of people whom I hate; on the other side — 
well, there isn’t much on the other side, I must admit; 
but there’s all I have to hope for henceforth. Good 
Lord! what an unspeakable ass I am! ” 

It will be observed that, in striking this balance, he 
did not take any conceivable danger to the lady’s peace 
of mind into account. An ass he might be; but he really 
was not quite such an ass as to imagine that the Hon- 
ourable Betty Mallet, that renowned beauty and heiress, 
could become enamoured of his homely countenance 
and modest social position. The young lady herself 
had, indeed, been so explicit with him of late that he 
could hardly, even if he had been so inclined, have 
cherished such an illusion. Their friendship though 
liable, as we have seen, to occasional interruptions, stood 
upon a sufficiently firm basis to render mutual compre- 
hension easy, and he knew from Betty’s own lips that, 
were she disposed to fall in love with anybody, it would 
be with Lord Charles Jocelyn. 

“Hot that I mean to marry him,” she had added 
reassuringly; “that would be rather too great a risk. 
Still it wouU be jolly to pay the poor fellow’s debts 
and set him on his legs again. What’s the use of me, 
except to pay somebody’s debts?” 


260 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


St. Quintin had inwardly rejoined, And what’s the 
use of me, except to preserve you and your fortune from 
being devoted to that purpose?” 

He really thought that he might thus be of some 
slight use to her. The paternal affection with which he 
had formerly regarded her was not extinct, although, for 
his misfortune, he had been compelled to acknowledge 
that he now saw her with less dispassionate eyes, and 
he was keenly alive to her unprotected state. Lady 
Maria was old, besides being determined, as old people 
so frequently are, to see nothing except what she wanted 
to see, while Lionel, if he chose to interfere at all, would 
be apt to do so with a hand somewhat too heavy to be 
serviceable. 

The upshot of all this was that St. Quintin attended 
the church of St. Winifred’s on the following Sunday 
morning, and was an edified participant in a Missa 
cantata, celebrated in strict accordance with the use of 
Sarum. Being in a state of lamentable ignorance with 
regard to questions of ritual, and too uneducated, from 
a musical point of view, to appreciate the beauties 
of plain song, he arrived at conclusions respecting the 
serivce and those who took part in it which were neither 
very just nor very charitable. He was, however, just 
enough to admit that he was in no position to throw 
stones, seeing that he had not come to church for the 
purpose of saying his prayers, and indeed made no at- 
tempt to do anything of the kind while on his knees. 
His gaze and all his attention were riveted upon two 
female heads a short distance in front of him, one of 
which, surmounted by a flowery bonnet, nodded and 
quivered continually, while the other — a little blonde 
head, poised firmly above a well-shaped pair of shoulders 
— was turned every now and again to right and left after 
a fashion which suggested that its owner was not wholly 
absorbed in devotional exercises. The congregation 
was a large and evidently aristocratic one; it included a 
great many people whom St. Quintin knew by name, 
together with a few whom he knew personally, and it 


THE DEVOUT LOVER. 


261 


did not include Lord Charles Jocelyn. Of that he satis- 
fied himself very soon after his entrance; perhaps, next 
to the fact that Betty Mallet was amongst the worship- 
pers, that was the chief thing that he had been anxious 
to ascertain. 

But, of course, he was not there with the sole ob- 
ject of contemplating the back of Betty’s head, wishing 
vainly that it were still adorned with the childish pig- 
tail which had been discarded for ever, and sighing 
under his breath at regular intervals. Having appointed 
himself the young lady’s unofficial watch-dog, it was 
clearly incumbent upon him to watch over her to the 
best of his ability, and he was not. without hope that 
she would grant him a brief opportunity of discharging 
this humble function on the conclusion of the service. 
So he was waiting in the porch when Lady Maria and her 
granddaughter emerged, ready to extend a hand which 
both of them seemed pleased to grasp. 

“ This is really nice of you! ” said Betty. “ I am 
sure you are a malignant Protestant at heart and hate 
the smell of incense, so we may accept your presence 
as a personal compliment. You are coming back to 
lunch, of course. I am going to the Park for half-an- 
hour as soon as I have tucked granny into her brougham, 
and you may accompany me if you like.” 

Lady Maria, whom he was assisting into her car- 
riage, at once seconded the invitation to luncheon. 

Always so glad to see you! ” she was kind enough 
to say. “ And do, like a good man, walk oft to the Park 
with that child and keep an eye upon her. At my age 
one can’t be everywhere, and she invariably picks up 
such a crew of disreputable women coming out of church 

that oh, how do you do? I didn’t see you. I was 

just telling Mr. St. Quintin that I don’t half like Betty 
to exhibit herself in the Park with some of you; nobody, 
meeting her in such company, would be likely to believe 
that she had been to church at all.” 

The lady thus politely accosted — who was a tall, 
handsome, finely developed personage, with bold eyes. 


262 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


auburn hair, and a complexion so utterly impossible that 
no charge of falsity could be brought against it — 
laughed aloud. 

Thanks so much! she returned. I heard you 
calling me disreputable, so I thought I would step for- 
ward and try to make you feel ashamed of yourself. But 
it doesnT seemed to have been much of a success.” 

The old lady grunted. “ I wish you had as little 
reason to be ashamed of yourself as I have,” said she. 
‘‘No, I am not going to beg your pardon; I canT help 
it if listeners sometimes hear the truth about themselves. 
But you are a good-natured sort of sinner, I must 
admit.” 

Lady Rushcliffe laughed again. She was certainly 
good-natured, and we are all sinners. Possibly her sins 
were not so very much more numerous or heinous than 
those of her fellow-creatures; but, such as they were, it 
pleased her to draw the thinnest of veils over them, and 
the consequence was that no wise mother would have 
cared to let her daughter appear in public under Lady 
Rushclilfe’s wing. 

This was what St. Quintin was thinking to himself, 
with a puckered brow, after Lady Maria had been 
whirled away and he had joined a small procession of 
smartly-attired ladies and gentlemen. He could not, 
in fact, resist hinting as much to his companion, al- 
though he knew that hints of that kind were rather 
dangerous. 

“ Lady Maria is quite right, you know,” he re- 
marked. 

“In what she says or in what she does, do you 
mean?” asked Betty. 

“ Oh,” answered her mentor, smiling, “ I am afraid 
very few of us are as good as our word. Lady Maria 
is extremely kind and indulgent, but ” 

“ Now look here,” interrupted Betty, “ if you have 
it in your mind to abuse my friends, let me implore you 
to change your mind while there is still time; because I 
won’t stand that sort of thing, even from you.” 


THE DEVOUT LOVEH. 


263 


Do you call Lady Rushclilfe a friend of yours? 
St. Quintin inquired. 

“ Yes, I do,” replied Betty, decisively and a little 
defiantly. “ Wliat then? ” 

I am sorry to hear it, that’s all. Sorrow isn’t equiva- 
lent to abuse, I hope?” 

It is, when it is expressed in that way. And why 
should you be either sorrowful or abusive ? I don’t force 
you to associate with my friends, do I? ” 

“No; but you force me to see you associating with 
them, which is a good deal worse. Say what you will, 
they are not fit associates for you, some of them, and you 
show that you know it by being so touchy.” 

“ I am afraid,” said Betty, “ you were not listening 
to the sermon this morning. It was a nice, bright little 
discourse, as all the St. Winifred’s discourses are, and 
I quite agreed with the preacher. There is nothing 
so easy, he told us, as to discover other people’s fail- 
ings, and there are few things more difficult than to rec- 
ognise our own.” 

“ Eeally,” observed St. Quintin, “ if that was all he 
could do for you in the way of a novel announcement, 
I think he might have spared himself the trouble of 
climbing up into the pulpit. No, I wasn’t listening 
to him, I confess. I was thinking about other things — 
chiefly about you and the people whom you choose to 
call your friends. I don’t believe you have any real lik- 
ing for them, and I am sure that you do yourself more 
harm than you are aware of by accepting hospitality 
and other favours from them. It may be owing to some 
mistaken feeling of generosity on your part, or it 
may ” 

“ Or it may,” interrupted Betty, “ be due to my 
obstinate determination to let nobody dictate to me. I 
don’t like your sermon nearly as well as the other, and I 
would rather not hear the end of it, please. You can’t 
have anything to say that you haven’t said a dozen times 
already, without the smallest effect. Lady Eushcliffe 
is what she is, and Charlie Jocelyn is what he is, and — 


264 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


and sometimes you make me wish that you weren^t what 
you are! It is so stupid of you to make an old friend 
and ally wish that! 

I suppose it is,” sighed St. Quin tin; “ I suppose I 
might as well hold my tongue for any good that I am 
likely to do. And yet I can^t help seeing that you stand 
very much in need of some disinterested adviser.” 

He looked so rueful, and withal so humble, that Bet- 
ty’s temper, which had been in momentary danger of giv- 
ing way, recovered itself. 

“ Bless you! ” said she, laughing, I can’t take care 
of myself; I am not the raw rustic that you seem to take 
me for. You must remember that I was treated as a 
grown-up person ever so long ago, and I have heard and 
seen a lot more than most girls of my age. Oh, I’m 
quite capable of taking care of myself.” 

“ I hope so — I am sure I hope so! ” was all that poor 
St. Quintin could rejoin. 

Indeed, she gave him no opportunity to commit 
himself further; for at that moment she made a barely 
perceptible signal to one of Lady Rushcliffe’s young 
men, who had been glancing repeatedly over his shoul- 
der, and who now fell back with alacritv to join Miss 
Mallet. 

The Park was very full that fine morning, and 
Betty was soon the centre of a group of lively acquaint- 
ances, by whom St. Quintin was gradually shouldered 
into the background. Prom that obscure post of ob- 
servation — so painfully symbolic of his actual position 
with regard to the girl whom he was so ridiculous as to 
love — he watched and listened to her for a time. He 
neither saw nor heard anything that could fairly he de- 
scribed as ohje.ctionable, even by a somewhat strait-laced 
bystander; yet there were several innocent young gentle- 
men whose heads he longed to punch, and whose easy 
familiarity did not appear to give the offence to Miss 
Mallet which it ought to have given. Presently Betty 
glanced at her watch. 

Hullo!” she exclaimed, “I must he off. Granny 


THE DEVOUT LOVER. 


265 


is lunching a couple of Cowley fathers, who are hound 
to he punctual lest they should keep their afternoon 
congregations waiting, and I have noticed that they 
don’t like being hurried over their food or the port wine 
which their doctors order them to take before preaching. 
Where is Mr. St. Quintin? We shall have to call a 
hansom in Piccadilly, if you don’t mind.” 

St. Quintin certainly did not mind the prospect of 
escorting Betty to Chesham-place, and was rather re- 
lieved to find that her present companions were not to 
he included among Lady Maria’s guests. She took leave 
of them with a circular sweep of her hand, to which Lady 
Rushcliffe responded by calling out, in loud, ringing 
accents: 

I’ll pick you up as soon as I can after three o’clock, 
then. My love to the old lady, and tell her not to wait 
dinner for you if you aren’t hack in time.” 

Now, I know,” remarked Betty, after she and 
her attendant squire had seated themselves in the han- 
som which was soon secured, that you are dying to 
ask to what resort of wickedness Lady Rushclifte is going 
to take me this afternoon. Be calm! We are only going 
to a sequestered spot to practise riding our hikes. At 
the same time I should take it as a favour if you would 
kindly regard this communication as confidential. 
Granny’s prejudices are capricious, and, for some rea- 
son or other, she has taken it into her head that no lady 
who respects herself can he seen upon a bicycle.” 

It would have been more to the purpose, St. Quintin 
thought, if Lady Maria had taken it into her head that 
loss of self-respect was a probable result of being seen 
with Lady Rushclifte. However, he held his peace as to 
that, and promised to do so with regard to Betty’s after- 
noon engagement: although it presently transpired that 
what she called a sequestered spot ” was a certain river- 
side club where solitude could scarcely he expected by 
Sunday visitors. 

For the rest, her behaviour during luncheon was all 
that could be desired, and it appeared to give satisfac- 


266 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


tion to the two benevolent-looking ascetics, whose glasses 
she was careful to keep filled. She left the drawing- 
room immediately after their departure, and, as she did 
not return. Lady Maria remarked placidly: 

I suppose that child is off somewhere. I wish I 
could think that she had gone to Evensong.” 

Oh, I donff imagine that she has gone to Even- 
song,” said St. Quintin, with a slight smile. 

The old lady straightened herself a little in her 
chair and frowned at him over her spectacles. “ Young 
man,” said she, do you know that you are rather imper- 
tinent? ” 

St. Quintin replied that he had not been aware of 
being so. 

Well, you are. It is distinctly impertient to imply, 
as you do with that speaking countenance of yours, that 
I have no control over Betty, and that I am allowing 
her to get into bad company.” 

“ I really did not mean to imply all that,” St. Quin- 
tin declared. 

“ Oh, didn’t you? Well, you might have meant to im- 
ply it and yet not have been quite as much in the wrong 
as I should like you to be. Nevertheless, I am not quite 
as much in the wrong as you think I am. I know 
what I can do and what I can’t, that’s all. It is pos- 
sible to lead Betty; it is almost impossible to drive 
her. And, as I remember telling you once before, I 
believe she is more disposed to be led by you than by 
anybody else.” 

St. Quintin shook his head. I have tried, and it 
hasn’t been much of a success,” said he. 

“ Try again, will you? And if you happen to hear 
of her doing anything really outrageous — but I don’t 
think she will — just let me know. After all, I am in 
authority over her, and I can exert my authority if 
need be.” 

St. Quintin agreed that there could be no question 
as to that; but the discouraging conviction which he 
took away with him was that Lady Maria was as power- 


AUSTRIA V. AUSTRALIA. 


267 


less as he himself was to coerce a young woman who had 
declared to him in so many words her determination to 
he dictated to by nobody. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

AUSTKIA V. AUSTRALIA. 

Amongst persons tolerably well qualified to judge, 
Roland Strahan passed at this time for being one of 
the quickest-witted men in London, and no doubt they 
had good reasons for paying him that compliment. As, 
however, they were only acquainted with the business 
side of the man, they were perhaps unable to detect liis 
limitations, and it may be that youths so intellectually 
inferior to him as Lord Charles J ocelyn and others could 
have enlightened him as to one or two points with regard 
to which he remained in the dark. Certain, at any rate, 
it is that his wits were not quick enough to inform him 
precisely how he stood with Lady Middlewood. He 
knew, of course, and could not help knowing, that ho 
was honoured with a very large share of her thoughts 
and attention; but what he could not for the life of him 
determine was whether he had any share in her affec- 
tions or not. And this, after all, was the less surprising 
since she herself scarcely knew. 

Meanwhile, the methods which she employed for 
Strahan^s subjugation were — more by accident than by 
design — singularly adroit. It was not, to be sure, a task 
of any great difficulty to irritate and tantalise a man 
whose own methods were apt to be brief, sharp, and di- 
rect; but Marietta would, probably have been less suc- 
cessful if she had really wished to bring him to the point 
of a declaration. Having no such wish, and being in 
truth almost as anxious to avoid humiliation as to achieve 
18 


268 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


the conquest upon which she was bent, she gladly seized 
every occasion to exert her attractive power over a still 
reluctant admirer, while preventing him from profiting 
by the opportunities which she seemed to offer. 

In the carrying out of these tactics her father’s pres- 
ence in London was of the greatest service to her. If 
Colonel Vigne was not already in the room when Stra- 
han, hastening to Arlington-street by appointment, was 
shown into Lady Middlewood’s presence, he was pretty 
sure to turn up in the course of five minutes or so; and 
indeed the worthy Colonel, who was far from suspecting 
that these persistent visits of his were hailed with relief 
by his daughter, usually wore the deprecating and hang- 
dog mien of one who is conscious of being an intruder. 
But he had quite made up his mind that intrude he 
must. If he did not suspect the whole truth, his sus- 
picions were decided enough as to three quarters of it, 
and it was not by the impatient frowns of a man whom 
he had begun to dread and detest that he was likely to 
be intimidated. That this man was deliberately paying 
court to his daughter it was impossible to doubt, and that 
his daughter’s vanity was flattered, even though her 
heart might not yet be touched, was distressingly evi- 
dent to him. He heard veiled allusions and intercepted 
quick glances which, to one of his doleful experiences, 
told their own tale only too distinctly. 

When he asked himself what he had better do, he 
perceived that he had the choice of various courses. 
He might speak seriously to Marietta; he might breathe 
a discreet word of warning to his son-in-law; he might 
boldly pick a quarrel with the would-be disturber of do- 
mestic peace; or he might simply sit still for the present 
and take care that there should be as few private inter- 
views as possible. Now, he did not at all want to speak 
to Lionel or to Marietta; for he was nervously afraid of 
letting either of them know why he had especial cause 
for feeling apprehensive. To pick a quarrel with Stra- 
han would have been delightful if. the scene had been 
Vienna and if Strahan had been an Austrian; but what 


AUSTRIA V. AUSTRALIA. 


269 


is the use of treading upon anybody’s toe in a country 
where duels are no longer fought? So the poor Colonel 
was fain to content himself with keeping a watchful 
eye upon the progress of events and sticking obstinately 
to his chair until his antagonist was forced to quit the 
field. The two men recognized one another as antago- 
nists, and even exchanged some slight verbal defiances — 
much to Marietta’s amusement. 

But at length it occurred to Colonel Vigne that he 
might perhaps do a little more than he was doing to- 
wards carrying the war into the enemy’s country. This 
Strahan — was he not, after all, some sort of financing 
adventurer? And was it not highly probable that, by 
making inquiries in the proper quarter, something might 
be learnt to his disadvantage — something which might 
perhaps induce Lord Middle wood to decline his future 
acquaintance? The Colonel’s views of financiers and 
company-promoters were those which largely prevail in 
the land of his adoption; he thought that the whole lot 
of them were rogues and that most of them had been 
guilty, at one time or another, of offences which, if 
brought home to them, would suffice to send them into 
penal servitude for a term of years. One morning there- 
fore, he betook himself to the place of business of a cer- 
tain German banker, upon whom he had a letter of credit 
and with whom he was personally acquainted, hoping 
that he might perchance accomplish his purpose in that 
way. The banker was very civil to Lady Middlewood’s 
father, and was willing to waste a few minutes of his 
valuable time, since the old gentleman seemed disposed 
to be chatty; but unhappily he had nothing but the 
highest admiration to express for Mr. Strahan when that 
successful personage’s name was strategically intro- 
duced into the conversation. 

A most remarkable young man,” he said, “ and one 
who will go far, unless I am greatly mistaken. A swin- 
dler? My dear sir, if any one has called him that, it 
must be an enemy; he has triumphed too completely to 
have no enemies. But he has also friends — your distin- 


270 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


guished son-in-law amongst the number — who, I am 
sure, will answer to you for him. If you think of pur- 
chasing any of the Company’s shares ” 

But the Colonel had no intention of employing his 
small capital in that way, and he left this Balaam of a 
hanker somewhat abruptly. Marching westwards, with a 
downcast air, and ruminating over the contrariety of 
things, he almost ran into the arms of the only man 
in London who had, so far, shown a disposition to back 
him up, and out of the fulness of his heart he supple- 
mented his greeting by an anxious question. 

“ If you aren’t in a hurry, Mr. St. Quintin, would 
you mind telling me why you said, the other day, that 
that fellow Strahan was not what you call straight ? ” 

St. Quintin was in rather a hurry, and he did not, on 
being thus challenged, see his way to justifying a vague 
charge. He looked wistfully down the Embankment, 
which was the scene of his encounter with his inter- 
rogator, as if he would fain escape; but he was himself 
too straight in all his dealings to shirk awkward situa- 
tions; so he frankly admitted that he had spoken over 
hastily. 

I know nothing against Strahan as a man of busi- 
ness,” he said; ‘‘ very likely there is nothing to know. I 
ought to have warned you that I am a prejudiced wit- 
ness.” 

“Yes, yes; but why are you prejudiced?” the Colo- 
nel asked. “ That is what I should like to get at, if you 
have no objection to letting me hear. There are plenty 
of arrant rogues who are clever enough to realise that 
honesty is the best policy, and whose business transac- 
tions are fair and above-board; but it doesn’t follow that 
one should admit them to one’s intimacy. In a word, 
I don’t altogether fancy Mr. Strahan, who is for ever in 
my son-in-law’s house, and you have given me your 
own opinion of him. Is it permissible to beg for your 
reasons? ” 

“Well,” answered St. Quintin, after a moment of 
hesitation, “I will say behind Strahan’s back what I 


AUSTRIA V. AUSTRALIA. 


271 


should he ready to say to his face, if necessary. There 
was a very nasty business when we were all at Oxford 
together — an unfortunate girl who was driven to commit 
suicide, and with whom it was notorious that Strahan 
used to spend a good deal of his time. I have no right to 
say that he was guilty — as a matter of fact, another 
man, whom nobody had suspected, saw fit to take to his 
heels; but he behaved with a callousness which I didn’t 
like, and I didn’t like the way in which he contrived to 
drag Lionel into the affair either. It is true that I had 
always disliked him, independently of that, and 1 have 
no doubt Lionel would tell you that anything I say 
about Strahan ought to be taken with several grains of 
salt. All the same, I must stick to my opinion, and I 
quite agree with you that it is best not to he too intimate 
with him.” 

St. Quintin, it should be mentioned, fully under- 
stood the nature of Colonel Vigne’s anxiety, in which 
his own observations had led him to participate. He 
thought it would be a very good thing if Lady Middle- 
wood’s father were to adopt measures for which her hus- 
band apparently saw no need. 

But what practical measures did the information 
which he had received place it in the eager Colonel’s 
power to adopt? It was scarcely to be supposed that 
Marietta would be influenced by the disinterment of a 
buried scandal which, after all, had left no stain upon 
Mr. Strahan’s character, nor was she likely to believe 
that her friend was a heartless libertine simply because 
one who did not know him nearly as well as she did 
chose to say so. The Colonel, however, did not con- 
template a direct appeal to his daughter, being perfectly 
aware that such a line of action could only result in fail- 
ure. 

Well,” he said, after having elicited from St. Quin- 
tin somewhat fuller particulars relating to the Oxford 
tragedy than have been given above. I’m much 
obliged to you. What you say quite confirms my per- 
sonal impression, and although, as you very properly 


272 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


point out, the man is entitled to a verdict of ‘ not guilty ’ 
in that especial case, I can see that you think ‘ not 
proven ^ would he nearer the mark.” 

feel like a backbiter,” answered St. Quintin a 
little compunctiously; but, as I told you just now, I 
am willing to repeat to Strahan’s face anything that I 
have ever said behind his back, and I believe he knows 
pretty well what I think of him.” 

No doubt he did; and he was destined, as it hap- 
pened, to hear very soon what Colonel Vigne thought 
of him. Not that it was with any such intention in his 
mind that that perplexed veteran bent his steps towards 
Arlington-street a few hours later; but the precise 
time and place for a battle, as his military experience 
had taught him, can seldom be determined in advance, 
and, slenderly equipped though he was for offensive 
purposes, events led him to risk an attack in force with- 
out further delay. 

In other words, he was so alarmed by what he saw, 
on his arrival, that he did not think it would be safe to 
postpone operations any longer. Strahan and Marietta 
were sitting very close together when he interrupted 
them; they pushed their respective chairs back, and one of 
them coloured visibly. In reality, she had merely been 
bending over her visitor’s shoulder to peruse a letter 
which he had received from the Colonial Secretary, 
and which was couched in terms so flattering that he 
had been tempted to show it to her; but how was a 
suspicious intruder to know that? The Colonel, while 
endeavouring to maintain his customary demeanour of 
brisk geniality, was horribly uneasy, and said to him- 
self that — hang it all! — he would bring the fellow to 
book before he lost sight of him. 

That the old gentleman would resolutely sit him out 
Strahan knew by previous experience; so he was not long 
in picking up his hat and preparing to take his leave. 
Nothing could have been more conventional and deco- 
rous that his manner of so doing; yet there was a sug- 
gestiveness in his look and his voice, while he held 


AUSTRIA F. AUSTRALIA. 


273 


]\Iarietta’s hand, which caused the third personas gray 
moustache to twitch and bristle up like the hack of a 
bellicose terrier. 

Will there he any hope of finding you at home to- 
morrow, if I can get away from my work by five 
o’clock?” he asked. 

And the Colonel inwardly replied, No, my fine fel- 
low, there won’t; for your visits to this house are going 
to be put a stop to.” Aloud he said, Perhaps you are 
walking my way, Mr. Strahan? ” 

To which the other, who detected a challenge in the 
question, and who really did not think it worth the 
trouble of taking up, replied: Well, I am going to walk 
across the Park; I have to leave cards at a house in 
Eaton-square.” 

That will just suit me,” declared the Colonel, whom 
any other direction would have suited equally well, and 
who, as Strahan knew, would in the natural course of 
things have headed for the opposite point of the com- 
pass. 

Confound the old fool! ” was the latter’s refiection; 
now he is going to attack me, I suppose. But, after all, 
I don’t know what he can possibly say. He will hardly 
make himself so ridiculous as to state plainly that he is 
afraid of my compromising his daughter! ” 

Nevertheless, that was exactly what Colonel Vigne 
meant to do. He was, in truth, afraid that Marietta 
was in serious danger of being compromised, and he 
was not in the least afraid of appearing ridiculous. He 
had not, indeed, given a thought to the figure which 
he individually was likely to cut in the approaching 
colloquy. The two men left the house by the garden 
gate, which opened upon the Green-park, and after they 
had advanced a few steps in silence, the Colonel pointed 
with his walking-stick to a vacant bench. 

With your permission,” said he, we will sit down. 
I have a word or two to say to you.” 

To the surprise and a little to the discomfiture of his 
companion, he actually said what he had to say within 


274 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


the limits of a word or two, and this was simply that he 
must request Mr. Strahan to discontinue his too notice- 
able and assiduous attentions to Lady Middlewood. 

“ You will tell me, I dare say, that you mean no 
harm,” he added. “ Very well; hut your conduct is like- 
ly to do my daughter harm, whether you jnean it or not, 
and I wish you to understand quite clearly that that 
cannot be permitted. You will, I hope, he so good as 
to take this hint and act upon it. Otherwise I must 
have recourse to more forcible methods.” 

Strahan was almost as much moved to respect as he 
was to amusement by the demands of this very peremp- 
tory old gentleman; for he liked a straightforward ad- 
versary, though he could not always afford to he straight- 
forward himself. In the present instance it was obvious- 
ly out of the question for him to he so. 

“ I am sorry that you should have taken such unwar- 
rantable notions into your head. Colonel Vigne,” he re- 
plied, and glad that since they have found their way 
there, you should have selected a victim of my reti- 
cence and discretion. You may depend upon me not 
to mention this to Lord and Lady Middlewood, who, I 
am afraid, would scarcely thank you for your interfer- 
ence; but you really must not expect me to take any 
further notice of what you have said. The friendship 
which exists between your daughter and me is, of course, 
absolutely innocent; hut even if it were not, I fail to 
see by what ‘ forcible methods ^ you could put an end 
to it.” 

The Colonel waved his hand impatiently. I have 
told you already,” said he, “ that I was prepared for 
that answer. You were hound to make it, and — not to 
mince matters — I don’t believe a word of it. I have 
lived too long and seen too much to accept any as- 
surance as to the innocence of your intentions. With 
regard to coercion, I can, if necessary, speak to my 
son-in-law; though I make you welcome to the admission 
that I should prefer to get rid of you quietly. Moreover, 
I happen to be cognisant of certain circumstances con- 


AUSTRIA V. AUSTRALIA. 


275 


nected with your past life wliich is at present no busi- 
ness of mine to talk about, but wbicb, if divulged, would 
probably cause a good many doors to be shut in your 
face. And I take it that you would rather abandon 
a flirtation which, believe me, will be stopped by hook 
or by crook, than risk losing the social prestige which 
is of so much importance to you.^’ 

Dear me! said Strahan, with an air of indolent 
surprise and entertainment; what circumstances, if one 
may ask? ” 

The Colonel looked him straight in the eyes and re- 
plied curtly and sternly, “ I presume that you would 
not like the whole truth to he known about the death 
of Maggie Field.” 

As a sheer piece of bluff, that was not badly imagined. 
Had the subject been introduced less abruptly, and had 
the name of Colonel Vigne^s informant been mentioned, 
nothing would have been more easy than to dismiss the 
story contemptuously, as no secret nor any possible source 
of disquietude to one who had virtually obtained a pub- 
lic acquittal. But coming, as it did, without the slight- 
est warning, the shot told. For an instant, though only 
for an instant, Strahan looked startled and defiant; the 
pupils of his eyes dilated and contracted rapidly, his 
lower jaw pushed itself forward, and the ColoneFs in- 
ward and gleeful comment upon these manifestations 
was “ Aha! I thought as much. The whole truth is not 
known, then! ” 

“ You see, Mr. Strahan,” he resumed, “ that I can, 
if I am driven to it, bring pressure to bear upon you, 
and ” 

“ I see,” interrupted the other, who had quickly re- 
covered his composure, that you have discovered a 
mare’s nest. Somebody has been telling you lies, per- 
haps — it really doesn’t matter. But since you are not 
too proud to use threats. Colonel Vigne, and since you 
have been pleased to allude to circumstances connected 
with my past life, I see no reason why I should not imi- 
tate you. Supposing, for example, that I wanted to bring 


276 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


pressure to bear upon you, how would it be if I were to 
enlighten Middlewood and others as to circumstances in 
your own past life? How would it be if I were to tell 
them what, I believe, admits of unquestionable proof — 
that you did not marry the late Mrs. Vigne in time to 
legitimise your daughter? I don’t know whether that 
would have the effect of causing any doors to be shut 
in Lady Middlewood’s face; I am sure I hope not, for it 
is evident that no blame attaches to her. But I doubt 
whether Middlewood would be persuaded to forgive a 
man who has practised such a piece of deception upon 
him.” 

Poor Colonel Vigne’s cheeks had assumed an ashen 
hue. The secret which — for his daughter’s sake and 
not without many misgivings — he had decided to keep 
to himself was in the possession of the enemy; his No- 
vara had been converted into a Sadowa; instead of im- 
posing terms, he must now act a suppliant’s part. Some- 
thing he might have pleaded in extenuation of his con- 
duct, both recent and remote, his daughter’s illegitimacy 
having been the result of events beyond his control; but 
of what avail could such pleas be to him in the pres- 
ent crisis? All he could do was to draw himself up, 
like one who is prepared to receive his death-blow, and 
say, Well, sir? ” 

“Well,” answered Strahan, who was really a little 
touched by the spectacle of the old man’s despair, “ you 
shouldn’t have threatened me. Don’t do it again, please, 
and you won’t provoke me to take steps which I would 
very much rather not take. For the rest, you will have 
to allow me a free hand. You have a low opinion of me, 
and not too high a one of Lady Middlewood, it seems. 
I am sorry for that; but really I can’t help it. So long 
as you refrain from molesting me, I shall not molest you; 
more than that it is impossible for me to say. And 
now,” he added, consulting his watch, “ I must be off. 
Good evening.” 

The Colonel remained, silent and defeated, on his 
bench, neither accepting nor declining the conditions of 


BETTY PUTS HER FOOT IN IT. 


2T7 


peace offered to hm. As for Strahan, as he strode brisk- 
ly across the grass, he said to himself: “ This is a strik- 
ing proof of the usefulness of keeping dossiers. I think 
I have got back the full value of that greasy dinner with 
my Garibaldian fiddler. I wonder what the old fellow 
knows about poor Maggie! — I wonder who could have 
told him! But iUs of no consequence; the gag is in 
his mouth.’’ 


CHAPTER XXX. 

BETTY PUTS HER FOOT IN IT. 

Raro antecedentem scelestum deseruit pede Poena 
claudo. As Colonel Vigne sat ruefully on the bench 
where Strahan had left him, that hackneyed quotation 
from a Roman poet came hack to his memory, an echo 
from the dim and distant days w'hen a classical educa- 
tion had been in process of being whipped into him, 
and when he had as yet had no thought of seeking his 
fortune under a foreign flag. Yet he could not feel 
that the adjective was altogether applicable to his case 
— not, at any rate, applicable to him so far as his original 
offence against established laws of morality was con- 
cerned. The beautiful and (if the whole truth must be 
told about her) not over prudish Italian girl, with whom 
he had contracted a romantic liaison during the brief 
breathing spaces of a campaign, had doubtless been 
wronged by him in a conventional sense; but he had 
made reparation at the earliest possible moment. Was 
it any fault of his that that moment had not come early 
enough to save her reputation, and that a marriage, which 
her parents would certainly have forbidden in the first 
instance, had ultimately been solemnised after a flight, 
at which they had been only too glad to connive? Was he 
to blame for having been ordered off to assist in quelling 


278 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


a Hungarian insurrection, and for the non-delivery of ap- 
pealing letters to which, even if he had received them, 
he could not have left his regiment to respond? As a 
man of honour, he had hastened to do all that could 
he done, and in subsequent years he had sometimes had 
reason to think that such punishment as might be his 
due had overtaken him. But of course his conduct 
had been culpable towards the man, not less honourable 
than he, who, after so long a lapse of time, had demand- 
ed his innocent daughter’s hand in marriage. He ought 
to have honestly told Lionel why the Magliacci would 
have nothing to do with the Vignes, and why Marietta was 
scarcely a tit person to become the wife of the future 
Viscount Middlewood. 

At least, I suppose so,” he sighed; I suppose that 
is what most people would say. But in spite of the 
Bible and the Church, I can’t admit that children ought 
to be made to suffer for the sins of their parents; that is 
neither reason nor justice. Besides, it w^as such an old, 
old story, and almost everybody who was acquainted 
with it was dead! Who could have foreseen that it 
would be revived at this time of day by the very man 
of all others whom I would have given an arm or a leg 
to keep in ignorance of it? ” 

Anyhow, no conceivable good purpose could be 
served by making a tardy confession to Lionel, and Stra- 
han, it appeared, was willing to hold his tongue. Upon 
conditions, to be sure — contoions of which the Colonel 
was glad to remember that he had signified no accept- 
ance, yet which practically enforced themselves. Turn 
me out of Lord Middlewood’s house, and the chances 
are that you, if not your daughter into the bargain, will 
very soon follow me,” had been Strahan’s menace, and 
there was no disputing its cogency. Active hostilities 
must needs be abandoned. What, then, remained to be 
done? Hothing, evidently, except to mount guard with 
daily assiduity, to convey discreet warnings to Marietta, 
and perhaps to breathe just one word in season to her 
husband. It was not a programme which held out any 


BETTY PUTS HEP FOOT IN IT. 


279 


great promise of success; but as it was the only possible 
programme, the best had to be made of it. 

From that day forth, therefore, the harassed and ap- 
prehensive Colonel became almost as constant a visitor 
to Arlington-street as if, in defiance of his principles, 
he had been his son-in-law’s guest. He could not com- 
plain of not being made welcome. Marietta always 
seemed delighted to see him; often she took him out 
driving with her, and she persuaded him to accompany 
her to many entertainments from which he would have 
excused himself a year before. But to those precau- 
tionary representations which he lost no opportunity of 
addressing to her, she turned a deaf ear. She either 
could not or would not understand what he meant; 
he did not venture to he explicit, and although it was 
by no means every day that Mr. Strahan called to pay 
his respects, there might, of course, easily be meetings 
of which the vigilant Colonel had no knowledge. When 
he did chance to encounter his enemy, the latter was 
perfectly civil and good humoured, making no allusion, 
direct or indirect, to the interview which had ended so 
triumphantly for him, and apparently taking it for 
granted that his terms had been agreed to. The Colo- 
nel would have been almost tempted to believe that 
his alarm was as groundless as Strahan had declared 
it to be, had he not, unfortunately for him, been familiar 
with certain symptoms which Marietta from time to time 
displayed. A burnt child fears the fire, and poor Colo- 
nel Vigne had burnt his fingers too badly in days gone 
by to be the dupe of any feminine artifices. 

If the uncomplimentary epithet of dupe had been 
earned by anybody in that house, perhaps its master de- 
served to be so stigmatised. Occupied from morning to 
night with duties and pleasures which did not attract 
his wife, Lionel was not a great deal in her company, 
and, when there, he certainly failed to see what other 
people were beginning to remark upon. What he did 
notice, and was glad to notice, was that her spirits had 
improved; it never would have occurred to him to seek 


280 


MARIETTA'S MARRIAGE. 


for the cause of that improvement in the attentions of 
a man who was his friend, who (as he believed) was a con- 
firmed woman-hater, and of whom she had more than 
once spoken disparagingly. To be thoroughly honest 
and honourable is inevitably to be, at least once, the 
dupe of those who are not thus handicapped. 

But others, as has been said, had begun to comment 
upon the circumstance that when Lady Middlewood ap- 
peared in public, Strahan was generally to be seen at her 
elbow, and these comments came to the ears of Betty 
Mallet, whose own observation, indeed, lent support to 
them. Now, when anything struck Betty, she was very 
apt to mention it, and in this instance she did so with- 
out hesitation or compunction, to her sister-in-law. 

I have been freely told of late,’^ she remarked, that 
I am a flirt. It isn’t true; but that is neither here nor 
there. I am accused of flirting because I see no reason 
why I shouldn’t be friendly with men whom I like; so if 
such nasty things are said to me, who at least am a 
spinster and who at least don’t keep one particular man 
for ever in my pocket, I am afraid even worse will he 
said about you, unless you give Mr. Strahan a hint to stand 
clear.” 

Marietta frowned. Who commissioned you to give 
me this advice?” she inquired. 

Don’t get on your hind legs,” returned Betty com- 
posedly: “nobody commissioned me; I don’t accept com- 
missions of that sort. But I thought I would make so 
hold as to flutter a danger-signal under your nose, in 
case of your not being aware that there is danger ahead.” 

“ You are really very kind,” said Marietta. 

“ Not at all; I only do as I would he done by.” 

This, Marietta thought, must surely he a figure of 
speech; for if there was a thing which Betty would 
stand from nobody, it was interference. However, it was 
the simplest matter in the world to put her sister-in- 
law’s sincerity to the test, and she proceeded to do so — 
with the anticipated result. 

“ Many thanks,” said Betty; “ I’ll bear your remarks 


BETTY PUTS HER FOOT IN IT. 


281 


in mind, and yon might make a greater mistake than to 
ponder over mine. But I think we won^t lecture one 
another again; lectures are so horribly liable to degen- 
erate into arguments, and arguments into quarrels! 

The two ladies did not quarrel; but one of them, 
who had not forgotten the marked predilection which 
Strahan had evinced at one time for the other’s society, 
and who doubted whether the counsels addressed to her 
had been wholly disinterested, was somewhat ruffled by 
the above slight passage of arms. That, no doubt, was 
why a favour which Miss Mallet called to request some 
days later was not conceded. 

Betty, who arrived early in the afternoon, and who 
congratulated herself upon her good luck in finding her 
sister-in-law at home, was, it appeared, in something 
of a quandary. A party, consisting of various young 
men and only two ladies, had been made up to dine at 
Hampton Court and bicycle back to town by moonlight; 
at the last moment Lady Rushcliffe had telegraphed to 
say that she was going to bed with a splitting headache, 
and what Betty hoped was that, if her sister-in-law had 
no other engagement, she would be so very good-natured 
as to drive or train down to the place of rendezvous 
and act as chaperone. 

“ But I don’t know how to ride a bicycle,” observed 
Marietta. 

Oh, that doesn’t signify,” returned the girl; you 
can drive home, and I’ll keep alongside of the carriage. 
Of course, if I had these men’s addresses, I might put 
them off; but I haven’t, and it would be rather too bad 
to leave them in the lurch. Especially as I believe they 
really hate cycling, and are only sacrificing themselves to 
please me.” 

I should have thought,” said Marietta, that Lady 
Maria would have been the proper person to take charge 
of you, under the circumstances.” 

“I am afraid she would be only too proper a per- 
son. Granny has a receptive mind, and I have educated 
her up to a good deal; but, oddly enough, I haven’t been 


282 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


able to conquer her prejudice against bicycles, which 
she looks upon as plebeian, if not immoral. So — be- 
tween ourselves — it wasn’t thought advisable to furnish 
her with full particulars as to this little jaunt. All she 
knows is that I am going to dine quietly with a few 
friends at Hampton Court, and that she can retire to 
roost as early as she likes.” 

Upon hearing this. Marietta saw fit to declare that 
she could be no party to clandestine schemes, and that 
her sister-in-law’s engagement would have to be can- 
celled. It was not, perhaps, very kind of her to adopt 
so uncompromising an attitude; but that she was within 
her right could not be questioned; and Betty, after 
some unavailing entreaties, took her leave, saying, good- 
humouredly enough: 

“ Well, I forgive you; though I do think you might 
have found it in your heart to lend a hand to a distressed 
fellow creature. I tremble to think of what Charlie 
Jocelyn will do when he discovers that he has been 
thrown over.” 

It was in part because she honestly believed that that 
spoilt youth would be furious, and in part because she 
herself was so little accustomed to being thwarted, that 
Miss Mallet, after leaving Arlington-street, made up 
her mind to take an utterly inadmissible step. Notwith- 
standing the emancipation from ordinary restraints 
which she had of late paraded, and taken some pleasure 
in parading, Betty was in many respects more simple 
and innocent than other girls. She knew, indeed, that 
it would be a rather bold measure to drive to the Water- 
loo Station, whither her bicycle had already been dis- 
patched, and to take her ticket for Hampton Court; 
but, upon the whole, she regarded this as the lesser of 
two evils. Of course, she could not dine with those 
young men; but she could meet them and explain what 
had happened, and then there would be no great harm, 
she supposed, in their riding back to London together. 
Had she not, times out of mind, ridden back from hunt- 
ing with an attendant cavalier? 


BETTY PUTS HER FOOT IN IT. 


283 


For what followed, Lord Charles Jocelyn must be 
held alone to blame — and, as a matter of fact, he was 
blamed to an extent, and after a fashion which, one is 
glad to know, made a humble and repentant man of 
him. He, at all events, was neither simple nor innocent; 
he could not hut be fully aware that it was a monstrous 
thing to persuade Miss Mallet to carry out the original 
programme without even the dubious protection of Lady 
Hushcliffe^s presence. But his conscience was probably 
solved by the plea which has solved many another con- 
science — that it would he great fun, and that nobody 
but themselves wou4d ever know anything about it. He 
represented that the dinner had been ordered, and could 
not now be countermanded; that one must dine some- 
where; that from Hampton Court to London is a very 
lone stretch of road to cover on an empty stomach; 
and that, really, a dressed-up holtser would answer any 
purpose that Lady* Rushcliffe could have been expected 
to serve. Finally, he answered for the discretion of 
his companions (which was tolerably audacious of him), 
and professed himself quite unable to see what differ- 
ence there was between bicycle-riding and satisfying 
the cravings of nature in a spirit of sociability. So 
Betty ended by allowing her scruples to be overruled. 
She was young enough, self-willed enough, and foolish 
enough to employ that argument which has been so 
frequently used to stifle troublesome misgivings by 
members of her sex — So long as I am doing nothing 
wrong, what can it matter? As if anything really 
mattered, except being found out! 

Betty enjoyed that little dinner very much. Her 
fellow-revellers — of whom there were but a couple, in 
addition to Lord Charles — were capital company, and 
took no liberties. Doubtless they realised the nature 
of the situation, and, whatever they may have thought 
of Miss MalleFs prudence, were under no temptation 
to treat her otherwise than respectfully. The dinner, 
about which Lord Charles (under Lady Rushcliffe’s in- 
structions) had taken some trouble, was excellent; the 
19 


284 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


champagne was better than might have been expected; 
and the jokes, if not strikingly novel or brilliant, amply 
sufficed to excite the hilarity of four light-hearted 
young persons. Even Lord Charles did not attempt to 
make love to Betty — having discovered, much to his 
regret, some time before, that the charming heiress 
had nothing but friendship to offer him — and the whole 
affair was as harmless and as delightful to those who 
took part in it, as an escapade which entails the possi- 
bility of a subsequent whipping is to a lot of school- 
boys. 

But the escapades of young ladies cannot, unluckily, 
be punished and paid for by methods so summary; and 
Betty Mallet was destined to be taught how dangerous 
a thing it is to defy the not too strict laws of modern 
conventionality. She was leaning upon her machine 
in front of the hotel where the dinner had taken place, 
while Lord Charles and his friends were regulating the 
account within, when her enjoyment of the soft night 
air, and of a prospective spin through Bushy Park, was 
interrupted by the sudden appearance in the bright 
moonlight of a gentleman whom she recognised, and 
who started visibly on recognising her. 

Oh,” she muttered under her breath, isn’t this 
just my luck! ” 

It really was rather bad luck that St. Quintin should 
have a widowed aunt who resided in Hampton Court 
Palace, and that he should have chosen the particular 
evening in question to run down from London and 
dine with her; but everybody must have noticed that 
coincidences of that vexatious kind only occur when 
the chances against their occurrence are well-nigh in- 
calculable. Of course, he had no sooner been informed 
of what Miss Mallet was doing there than he wanted to 
know who her companions were; and when these had 
been duly stated for his benefit by a young woman who 
was incapable of telling lies, he rejoined — 

‘^Yes; but I mean what ladies are with you?” 

There aren’t any ladies,” answered Betty, with 


BETTY PUTS HER FOOT IN IT. 


285 


the calmness of despair. “ There was to have been one, 
but she telegraphed to say that if she lifted her aching 
head from the pillow she would be sick; so, as I couldn’t 
get anybody to take her place, I came down without her. 
Don’t be shocked — or rather, be as shocked as I know 
you can’t help being; but don’t betray me.” 

‘‘ Good heavens! ” exclaimed St. Quintin, aghast, 
“you have put your foot into it this time! What can 
have tempted you to get yourself into such a horrible 
mess! It’s more serious than you think for — a great 
deal more serious. Do you really mean to say that you 
have been dining in a public room with these three 
fellows ? ” 

“ I really mean to say that I have been dining in a 
public house with them,” replied the girl defiantly. 
“ We had a private room, if that makes any difference.” 

“ None worth speaking of. Lady Maria will have to 
be told, you know; there’s no help for it.” 

“ She will not be told, unless you are sneak enough 
to tell her. Charlie Jocelyn has bound the others down 
to secrecy.” 

St. Quintin shook his head despondently. “ They 
won’t keep their promise,” he said; “ nobody ever keeps 
promises of that sort. Each of them will tell at least 
one person in strict confidence, and as the one person 
is sure to be a woman, you may safely multiply her by 
a dozen, which makes six and thirty. By the time that 
your grandmother hears the story it will be quite a 
dozen times worse than it is; so the sooner she is en- 
lightened as to the actual facts the better.” 

“ Very well,” returned Betty; “ go and enlighten her, 
then. I should be sorry to serve you such an ill turn 
as you propose to serve me; but I don’t choose to appeal 
to you for mercy. I quite understand that I am in 
your power.” 

St. Quintin made a forlorn gesture. “ What you 
don’t seem to understand,” he remarked, “is that you 
are in the power of that fellow Jocelyn, whose head 
I should like to break, and his friends’. It is easy enough 


286 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


for me to hold my tongue — God knows I have no wish 
to get you into trouble! — but the question is, what can 
he done now to save you from — from calumny? Be- 
lieve me, much the best plan will he for you to make 
a clean breast of it at once to Lady Maria. Then at 
least she won’t be able to accuse you of having de- 
ceived her. If you will give me your word of honour 
to do that, I will give you mine to remain mute.” 

Betty, after a moment of consideration, saw fit to 
agree to these terms. Indeed, it was evident, now that 
she came to think of it, that she must either tell her 
grandmother the truth or a falsehood, and she could 
not hut perceive that St. Quintin’s advice was sound. 
That, however, did not prevent her from being seri- 
ously displeased with him for having turned up at such 
an inopportune moment, and she dismissed him with 
scant ceremony. 

Please, go away now,” said she. “ The others will 
be here presently, and you are so stupid and disagree- 
able that I believe you would he capable of reading them 
a lecture.” 

St. Quintin felt capable of reading them a lecture 
with his fists or his walking-stick; hut, that being out 
of the question, the next best thing to do was to take 
himself off. He withdrew accordingly, leaving behind 
him a culprit whose enjoyment of the moonlight he 
had very effectually spoilt. Shortl}’’ afterwards. Miss 
Mallet said to her assembled friends: 

By the way, consider yourselves released from any 
obligation to keep this thing dark. I hate mysteries, 
and I don’t see any need for them. For my own part, 
I mean to tell granny what I have been about as soon 
as I get home.” 


JUDGMENT PRONOUNCED BY HEAD OF FAMILY. 287 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

JUDGMENT PRONOUNCED BY THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY. 

SAY, you know,” began Lord Charles, manoeu- 
vring his bicycle alongside of that on which Miss Mallet 
was progressing at a high rate of speed, ‘‘I wouldn’t 
go and tell the old lady about this, if I were you — I 
wouldn’t really! What’s the use of having rows? And 
you may depend upon it that we shall none of us split.” 

He was a young man who was not easily made to 
feel uncomfortable; but he had been rendered a little 
so by Betty’s surprising announcement, and still more 
by her sudden and unaccountable change of mood. She 
seemed, for some reason or other, to have become as 
cross as a bear — which was really rather inconsiderate 
of her, seeing that they had so many miles of road be- 
fore them, and that the sole object of this fatiguing 
nocturnal excursion was the promotion of jollity. And 
certainly it was no very amiable countenance that Betty 
turned towards her neighbour. 

“ You talk as if we had been concerned in a bur- 
glary together! ” she exclaimed. I don’t know wheth- 
er you are aware of it, but it is rather impertinent and 
rather insulting of you to speak like that. I shouldn’t 
have dined with you if I had been ashamed of what I 
was doing.” 

Well, but,” remonstrated the other, hang it all; 
you know ” 

“ Oh, I know well enough! ” Betty cut him short 
by exclaiming in a very snappish tone of voice. I 
know it was an idiotic thing to do, and I know I agreed 
with you that we had better keep it to ourselves. But 
I have changed my mind. Upon the whole, I prefer 
to make everybody’s hair stand on end by confessing 
what I have done and taking the consequences — which 
will be most unpleasant.” 

Oh, all right! ” answered Lord Charles huffily. 


288 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Only you said just now that you were not ashamed 
of what you had done.” 

I am not a bit ashamed,” Betty declared; I am 
slightly disgusted, that’s all. But we may as well drop 
the subject; it isn’t a nice one.” 

Lord Charles said to himself that that was so like 
a woman. As jolly as possible one minute, and the 
next, without rhyme or reason, ready to play the very 
dickens all round! He foresaw that trouble both to 
herself and (what was more important) to him would 
come of Betty^s recklessness, and he could only hope 
that a night’s reflection would cause her to change her 
mind a second time. He essayed a further mild ex- 
postulation when, at the end of their not very joyous 
moonlit ride, he bestowed Miss Mallet and her bicycle 
in the four-wheeler which he had called at her re- 
quest. 

“Why go and throw the fat into the Are? It will 
be all right if you will only leave well alone.” 

But Betty shook her head impatiently. In the first 
place, she had realised that what had been done had 
been anything but well done, and that self-respect de- 
manded an avowal; in the second place, she had given 
her word of honour to adopt the course which Lord 
Charles deprecated. The nearer she drew towards the 
necessary adoption of that course the less it smiled upon 
her; but, whatever she might be, she was no coward; 
so immediately on her arrival in Chesham-place she 
marched into the drawing-room, where Lady Maria was 
placidly nodding over a book, and fired off her statement 
point-blank. 

“ Granny,” she began, with a slightly tremulous 
laugh, “I’m like the fat boy in Pickwick, I’m going 
to make your flesh creep! 1 didn’t tell you before I 
started that I had had a telegram from Lady Rush- 
cliffe to say that she was seedy and couldn’t go with 
me to Hampton Court. I tried to get Marietta to 
come in her place; but she wouldn’t, and so — I went 
all by myself.” 


JUDGMENT PRONOUNCED BY HEAD OF FAMILY. 289 


Lady Maria, who was only half awake, did not at 
once take in the full significance of this terrible an- 
nouncement. She removed her spectacles, which she 
slowly rubbed, while endeavouring to recall details 
which had escaped her memorv. 

Hampton Court? she replied. Was it to Hamp- 
ton Court that you were going? And you went by 
yourself, you say? Well, but you haven’t been by your- 
self all this time, I suppose.” 

“ I have not,” answered Betty, gloomily. I have 
been dining with Charlie Jocelyn and two other men, 
and after dinner we rode back to London on our bi- 
cycles. There — now you know the worst.” 

Lady Maria’s spectacles slipped out of her hands, 
which were instinctively thrown upwards. “ This can’t 
be true! ” she ejaculated. 

It is, though,” said Betty; it’s the simple, un- 
varnished truth. If there were any use in my saying 
that I am sorry, I would say so; for that would be the 
truth, too. But I don’t suppose you would believe me. 
I know I deserve to be scolded; so scold away, and I 
won’t interrupt.” 

The old lady, however, did not avail herself of this 
generous permission. The case was far too grave to be 
dealt with by mere scolding, and her consternation was 
too deep to find relief in that way. 

I have never heard,” she groaned, that there was 
actual insanity in the family, though many of the 
Mallets have been rather eccentric; but this can 
only be accounted for upon the supposition that you 
have ceased to be responsible for your actions. In 
fact, I don’t see what other excuse we are to make 
for you! To dine with three young men and spend 
half the night in tearing about on wheels in their 
company! — oh, it is absurd to talk about there be- 
ing safety in numbers; that won’t help you! And 
concealment is out of the question. Who could hope 
to hush up a scandal which each one of those young 
men, you may be very sure, will have related in 


290 


MARIETTA'S MARRIAGE. 


confidence to somebody else before this time to-mor- 
row ? ” 

shouldn't have thought that they would he so 
mean/" said Betty; ''hut Mr. St. Quintin is quite of 
your opinion. According to him nobody ever keeps 
secrets of this kind."" 

"Mr. St. Quintin? What does he know about it?"" 

" He knows all about it/" answered Betty. " I was 
standing alone outside the hotel at Hampton Court, 
after dinner, when he dropped upon me suddenly out 
of a clear sky and began asking questions which 1 had 
to answer. In fact, it was he who made me promise 
to confess my sins to you. He gave me to understand, 
in fact, that he would tell you if I didn"t."" 

Lady Maria stooped down and picked up her specta- 
cles, which she placed upon her nose. Probably she was 
aware that by gazing over them at the offender she 
could impart some additional terrors to the severity 
of her aspect. 

" So you did not intend to confess to me/" she re- 
marked sternly. "I am sorry for this, Betty; I have 
hitherto been under the impression that however wil- 
ful and disobedient you might be you were at least 
above taking refuge in deceit. But now it seems that 
I should have been kept entirely in the dark, but for 
the accident of Mr. St. Quintin"s having discovered 
you."" 

This accusation, which touched Betty in a tender 
spot, was all the more hard to hear because she was un- 
able to meet it with a direct denial. 

" I shouldn"t have told you a lie, granny,"" was all 
that she could plead for herself; "but I suppose, as 
you say, I did intend to keep you in the dark. I thought 
you would take it for granted that Lady Rushcliffe 
had been there, and — and I really didn"t mean any 
harm."" 

It was not often that Miss Betty gave way to tears, 
but her blue eyes were suspiciously clouded now, and 
the corners of her mouth were quivering piteously. " Is 


judgment; pronounced by head of family. 291 

it, after all, such a very dreadful thing to have done?’’ 
she asked, in a small, uncertain voice. 

“ My dear,” answered her grandmother, whose heart 
was not hard enough to hold out against these mani- 
festations of repentance, ‘^it is such a very dreadful 
thing that I am quite sure you would never have done 
it, except upon some mad impulse. What step we are 
to take I can’t imagine! I must send for your brother 
the first thing to-morrow morning and consult him. 
Meanwhile there is no good in crying. We had better 
go to bed, both of us, and try to sleep.” 

Lady Maria added a few injunctions with regard to 
the use of a Manual of Devotion which she had recently 
presented to her grandchild, and hinted that absolution 
might ultimately be obtained from a priest of the 
Church. But in truth the good lady was less disquieted 
about the religious than about the social aspect of this 
unfortunate affair; for she feared that social absolu- 
tion would not he likely to be accorded upon very easy 
terms. 

hTor had Lionel, who arrived, in obedience to his 
grandmother’s summons, immediately after breakfast 
the next morning, much comfort to offer her. He was 
greatly displeased — far more so than Betty had ex- 
pected him to be — and he expressed himself in uncom- 
promising language. Such an escapade, he said, could 
not possibly be explained away; there was nothing to 
be done but to admit the whole truth — which might or 
might not be believed — and to trust that it would be 
forgotten within a year. 

^^As far as the remainder of this season is con- 
cerned,” he added, “I should strongly advise you to 
sacrifice it and go home at once.” 

But won’t that look rather as if I was being packed 
off in disgrace ? ” Betty ventured to ask. 

Yes, I should say so,” returned her brother piti- 
lessly. What else do you deserve, pray? I wish there 
were any chance of that fellow Jocelyn’s getting what 
he deserves! However, I shall speak to his father, with 


292 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


whom I hope he will have a rather nasty quarter of 
an hour.^^ 

It may be mentioned here that Lord Charles’s father, 
who was a terrible old personage, and upon whom the 
young man was wholly dependent, proved as furious as 
Lionel could have desired him to be. He at first pro- 
posed to order his son to marry the young lady forth- 
with, but, upon being given to understand that this 
form of reparation would be scarcely acceptable to her 
family, he had recourse to pecuniary and other penal- 
ties which effectually put a stop to the delinquent’s 
fun for a good many months. 

Meanwhile Lionel walked across to the Home Office 
in search of St. Quintin, whom he drew away from the 
labours of correspondence for a few minutes to thank 
and consult. 

It isn’t too pleasant,” he remarked, “ that one’s 
sister should have been caught by anybody in the act 
of making a desperate fool of herself; but since she 
was to be caught I am glad you were the man to catch 
her. I have advised my grandmother to take her 
straight back to Chelton. Under the circumstances 
that is the only thing to be done, don’t you think 
so?” 

St. Quintin supposed it was. He looked a little 
down in the mouth, for, indeed, he felt it rather hard 
that he should be the instrument selected by Provi- 
dence both for banishing and for incurring the dis- 
pleasure of one whom he would cheerfully have made 
any sacrifice to serve. 

''I am afraid Miss Mallet will never forgive me,” 
he said ruefully. 

Oh, I don’t know,” answered Lionel. If she has 
any sense at all she will recognise that she is deeply 
indebted to you; but really I begin t to think that she 
has absolutely no sense! One could understand her 
having behaved in this way better if there were any 
reason to suppose that she had taken a fancy to that 
young ass Jocelyn ” 


JUDGMENT PRONOUNCED BY HEAD OF FAMILY. 293 


“ xire you sure that she hasn’t?’^ interrupted St. 
Quintin, with subdued eagerness. 

‘‘ Well, yes; I’m pretty sure. As sure as one can 
be about anything in which a woman is concerned. But 
that, as I say, makes her foolhardiness the more inex- 
plicable. Of course everybody will he talking about 
this stupid business to-morrow. I don’t know that we 
can do anything, except admit that she has been a very 
silly girl and that she is being made to smart for it. I’m 
all for telling the truth, whatever happens.” 

So was St. Quintin. He observed that nobody who 
knew Miss Mallet would be in the least likely to accuse 
her of anything worse than silliness, and ventured to 
add that nobody who entertained a regard for the in- 
tegrity of his features would he wise to accuse her even 
of that when he was present. 

At this Lionel laughed a little. “ Do you propose 
to punch the heads of a score or so of ladies? ” he asked. 

I am afraid we must not hope to be able to stop their 
tongues; all we can trust to is the shortness of their 
memories. Oh, dear me! what a much more peaceful 
and comfortable planet this would he if there were no 
women on the surface of it! ” 

He did not quite mean that; still he was a good 
deal annoyed, and St. Quintin did not seem to have 
much to offer him in the way of comfort or advice. He, 
therefore, resolved to lunch at home and talk matters 
over with his wife, who, to he sure, laboured under the 
disadvantage of being a woman, hut who, for that very 
reason, might be able to suggest some method of com- 
ing to terms with others of her troublesome sex. 

On reaching Arlington-street, he encountered his 
father-in-law, who was just turning away from the 
door, and whose countenance did not wear its habitual 
air of beaming good humour. 

Hullo, Colonel!” said Lionel, where are you 
off to? Can’t you stay and lunch with us? ” 

“ I was asked to lunch,” Colonel Vigne replied; 
but I suppose Marietta must have forgotten that she 


294 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


invited me, for she is not expected home, it appears, 
until late in the afternoon. I wonder where she has 
gone! ” he added, with a troubled look. 

Lionel had not the slightest idea, and did not seem 
to think that it signified much. Come in with me, 
anyhow,^’ said he. There will be something for us 
to eat, I suppose, though we weren’t expected.” 

The Colonel nodded assent. An opportunity was 
being offered to him which he felt that he ought not 
to neglect, and when, after a time, Lionel, who could 
think of nothing else, told him about Betty’s scrape, he 
began to see his way. 

My dear fellow,” said he, women, according to 
my experience of them, are always getting into scrapes, 
more or less serious. It is really their nature to be 
like that, and perhaps, if the whole truth were known, 
they can’t help it. At any rate, before blaming them, 
we ought to ask ourselves whether those whose duty it 
is to protect them from harm have not overlooked that 
duty. Your sister, I would stake my life upon it, is as 
innocent a young lady as there is in England; yet see 
what trouble she has got into through — if you will ex- 
cuse my saying so — lack of proper supervision. Has it 
never struck you that our dear Marietta, for instance, 
is left rather more to her own devices than is quite 
safe?” 

Lionel stared. liked the old gentleman and was 
willing to put up with a good deal from him; but he 
did not like anybody to adopt that tone in speaking 
of his wife. 

No,” he answered rather curtly, I can’t say that 
it has. Do you mean anything in particular? ” 

The poor Colonel meant something in particular; 
but, as we know, it was a matter of some difficulty and 
danger for him to say precisely what he meant. How- 
ever he had to do the best he could; so he sighed, lighted 
a cigarette (for this conversation took place after the 
two men had finished their luncheon), and embarked 
upon a very careful and circuitous statement, the upshot 


JUDGMENT PRONOUNCED BY HEAD OF FAMILY. 295' 

of which was that, in his opinion, Mr. Strahan was 
rather too frequently at the house. 

‘‘ I am not suggesting,’’ he concluded, that there is 
any cause for real alarm; only I am an old man; I have 
seen more of the world than you have — and I do know 
— I can’t help knowing — how important it often is to 
check these things in time. It would be so easy for you, 
without saying anything, to leave London! ” 

That, however, would not be so very easy, and cer- 
tainly Lionel was not at all alarmed. He was even 
rather amused that Strahan, who was anything hut a 
lady’s man, and in whose favour, as he believed. Mari- 
etta was by no means predisposed, should be made the 
subject of this well-meant warning. But, to humour 
the old fellow, he replied: 

“Very well; I’ll give Marietta a hint. Probably 
she will have no objection at all to being out in future 
when Strahan calls. As far as that goes, I shouldn’t 
mind speaking to Strahan himself, if it were necessary; 
though I suspect he would be more astonished than 
flattered at being taken for a Don Juan.” 

“ For Heaven’s sake, don’t dream of doing that! ” 
exclaimed the Colonel, aghast. “ I — I — the fact is that 
Mr. Strahan and I are not the best of friends, and I 
wouldn’t for the world have my name mentioned in 
the matter. Indeed, I don’t see why you need speak 
to Marietta either. In these cases action is always pre- 
ferable to words, don’t you think so ? ” 

But Lionel, unfortunately, did not think so. “ Oh, 
I am not going to scold her,” he answered, laughing; “ I 
shall only, as I say, give her a hint.” 

So the Colonel left Arlington-street, a prey to har- 
assing doubts as to whether, after all, he would not 
have done better to keep his own counsel. 


296 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

IN AN OPERA-BOX. 

Marietta’s forgetfulness of her luncheon engage- 
ment had not been caused, as her father rather ab- 
surdly conjectured, by some surreptitious appointment 
with Strahan, but by a piteous little summons to Ches- 
ham-place from Betty, who wrote: 

“ I wish, if you have not anything particular to do, 
you would come and help me to cheer up granny. She 
is in the deepest dejection, and I have fallen into such 
depths of disgrace that they can only he described by 
word of mouth. When I tell you that we are upon the 
point of flying into the country to hide our shame, you 
will guess, perhaps, what a good use I have been mak- 
ing of my time since I saw you last! ” 

If Marietta’s powers of divination were not quite 
equal to the demand made upon them, her curiosity, 
at all events, was sufficiently excited to impel her to 
order the carriage forthwith, and within half-an-hour 
she had been placed in possession of the distressing 
facts. It was generous of her, no doubt, to say that 
she considered herself in a great measure to blame for 
what had happened, since all this might have been 
averted if she had not refused the request made to her 
twenty-four hours before; but she could very well af- 
ford to he generous, now that the somewhat bumptious 
Betty was at her mercy, and she refrained from tram- 
pling upon the fallen. In the way of consolation there 
was not a great deal to be said; but she extended her 
fullest sympathy to the two ladies, and willingly prom- 
ised that she would do what she could to make their 
peace with Lionel, whose unwonted sternness appeared 
to have frightened them out of their wits. Probably, 
indeed, she had been sent for in the hope that that 


m AN OPERA-BOX. 


297 


promise might he obtainable from her; for it is the 
privilege of easy-going men to become, on occasion, a 
source of terror to their womankind. 

Thus, after having spent several hours in Chesham- 
place. Marietta returned home, glowing with conscious 
benevolence and prepared to discharge in no grudging 
spirit the mission with which she had been intrusted. 
She did not expect to see her husband before dinner 
time; so that it was a surprise to her to find him seated 
in her boudoir — a room which he very seldom entered 
— and to be informed that he had been waiting some 
little time for her. The fact was that, by dint of sit- 
ting with his hands before him and meditating over 
Colonel Vigne’s remarks, he had managed to get him- 
self into one of those worried conditions of mind in 
which nothing seems too preposterous to be quite im- 
possible, and he was now really eager for the anticipated 
assurance on his wife’s part that she was guiltless of 
having encouraged anybody’s advances. Naturally, how- 
ever, she ascribed his grave looks to another origin, and 
she hastened to say: 

‘‘ You must forgive poor Betty, Lionel. I have just 
left her, and I can answer for her being really repent- 
ant. After such a lesson as she has had, she is not 
likely to offend in the same way again. Besides, isn’t 
it punishment enough for her to be packed off home, 
like this, at a moment’s notice?” 

Oh, you have been with them and heard all about 
it, then?” said Lionel. “I am sorry if Betty thinks 
I have been too hard upon her: I was under the im- 
pression that I had been studiously moderate in my 
observations. Unfortunately, it isn’t my forgiveness — 
to which I am sure she is very welcome — that can put 
matters straight. Why is it, I wonder, that women can 
never distinguish between causes and effects! ” 

He spoke irritably, and continued to do so during 
the brief discussion which followed. My dear Mari- 
etta,” he said at length, it is kind of you to take Betty’s 
part, and I am as convinced as you are that she did not 


298 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


realise what she was about w^hen she made this amazing 
blunder. What she fails to understand, and what you 
also apparently fail to understand, is that intentions 
don’t count. If I break the law, I must suffer for it, 
however ignorant or well-meaning I may have been.” 

At that rate,” remarked Marietta, you would not 
mind what your sister did, so long as appearances were 
kept up.” 

“ Come, Marietta, that wasn’t what I said. All the 
same, appearances are important, and nobody can afford 
to disregard them.” 

He took advantage of the opportunity which she had 
given him to say what he had to say, and as quickly 
as possible he performed a task which he suddenly found 
to be a good deal more distasteful than he had antici- 
pated. It was not, after all, exactly pleasant to accuse 
his wife of being too intimate with another man; so, 
in his haste to get the thing over and have done with 
it, he omitted to mention that he himself did not sus- 
pect her even of imprudence. 

The consequence was that she was startled and 
genuinely alarmed. She turned pale, the pupils of her 
eyes became dilated, and for a moment she looked as 
like a guilty woman as she could very well look. But 
this was only for a moment. She instantly perceived 
that Lionel knew nothing — that it was, indeed, quite 
impossible for him to know anything — and she broke 
into a laugh so natural that his nascent fears, which 
were but the swift reflection of hers, were dissipated 
there and then. 

Mr. Strahan, of all people! ” she exclaimed. ^AVell, 
certainly I have seen a good deal of him lately and I 
like him better than I did; but I should have thought 
that if there was a man in London whom I might safely 
receive, it was he. Everybody knows that he is a friend 
of yours, and I daresay a good many people know that 
he wasn’t at first a particular friend of mine. Who can 
have been so ingenious as to suggest to you that he was 
compromising me?” 


IN AN OPERA-BOX. 


299 


Lionel did not feel justified in betraying his in- 
formant. He* was fain to reply, vaguely and a little 
shamefacedly, that he believed the frequency of Stra- 
han^s visits had been noticed, but that the matter was 
really not one of any consequence as yet. All you 
have to do is to be ^ not at home ’ to him when he calls; 
he isn’t a fool, and he will grasp the meaning of that.” 

Most likely he will,” agreed Marietta, still laugh- 
ing; but do you really wish him to grasp the meaning 
of it? Would you like him to know that you pay him 
tlie compliment of being jealous of him? ” 

Generally it is foolish to display jealousy, and some- 
times it is almost wise; but under no circumstances can 
it be very dignified to do so. Lionel rather hastily dis- 
claimed any such sentiment. 

“ As far as I am concerned, Strahan is welcome to 
be here all day, and every day,” he declared; the only 
thing is that one can’t afford to disregard the chatter 
of outsiders.” 

It would not have been easy to express himself more 
unfortunately. Marietta smiled and thanked him for 
having put her upon her guard; but inwardly she was 
nearly as much piqued as if she had adored this unim- 
passioned husband of hers. Since immunity from in- 
convenient chatter was all that he cared about, she 
would endeavour to spare him that inconvenience, she 
thought; more than that he had not asked for, and 
more he should not obtain. In her somewhat perverted 
view, his words conveyed a permission to do anything 
she liked, provided that she kept within the bounds of 
conventional decorum. 

She was still under the influence of that impression 
when she betook herself to the opera some hours later, 
unaccompanied by Lionel, who had an engagement else- 
where. She had even, by a superfluity of conscientious- 
ness, mentioned that Strahan would most likely be pres- 
ent at the performance, and might be expected to find 
his way to her box, to which her husband had replied: — 
Oh, well, that really can’t be helped. I don’t want 
20 


300 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


you to be rude to the poor fellow, much less to cut him. 
I hope you quite understand that it isn^t in his power 
to give me one moment of personal uneasiness.” 

Consequently, when Lady Middlewood reached the 
scene of her first introduction to London society, she 
was in no temper to put a curb either upon her thoughts 
or her actions. She was reminded of that now distant 
occasion when she advanced to the front of the box 
and looked down upon the crowded rows of stalls be- 
neath her. Since then she had indeed fait du chemin! 
At that time — or so, at any rate, she assured herself — 
she had been a very simple Italian girl, in love with the 
handsome young Englishman, who had been so proud 
to introduce her to his aristocratic relations, excited 
almost to the point of tears by the music and by the 
skill of the prima donna, whom she had innocently 
envied, and susceptible of being moulded into the best 
and most affectionate of wives. Now, through no fault 
of her own that she knew of, she was a totally different 
person. She herself had become a representative of this 
insular aristocracy. Some of her ambitions had been 
fulfilled, and had left her cold; others had ceased to 
attract her; she had realised, in short, that no fulfilled 
ambitions have power to satisfy the soul, save possibly 
one. To love and to be loved — is not that, when all is 
said, the one and only thing that can atone for the many 
disappointments of earthly existence? That Marietta 
Middlewood did not differ in any appreciable degree 
from Marietta Vigne, that she was only dissatisfied with 
her, extremely fortunate lot because it was her nature 
to be always dissatisfied, and that love in her case was 
likely to prove quite as fleeting an emotion as any 
other, may have been facts; but for the moment she 
was happy in her inability to recognise them as such. 
She was happy, that is to say, in what it suited her to 
consider her unhappiness — which, to be sure, is no very 
uncommon experience. 

The programme that evening was a broken one, 
being made up of selections from the works of two 


IN AN OPERA-BOX. 


301 


modern Italian composers, whose somewhat sensuous 
melodies were strangely w^edded to an orchestration of 
perceptibly Teutonic origin. The music was of a na- 
ture to accord with Marietta's not over-sincere mood, 
and at moments she willingly allowed her mental bal- 
ance to be disturbed by it. There are so many things 
which one does not mean to do, yet which it is a luxury 
to contemplate one^s self as doing, and she liked to fancy 
that she had it in her to sacrifice her wealth, her coronet, 
and her reputation for the sake of the man who had won 
her love. 

She had caught sight of him in the stalls soon after 
]ier entrance; she had responded to his bow by a slight 
nod; immediately upon the fall of the curtain he pre- 
sented himself in her box; and then, on a sudden, it 
was borne in upon her that, whatever sacrifices she might 
be prepared to make, few were to be expected from 
Roland Strahan. 

All alone ? ” were his first words. “ I thought 
Lady Gosport was to be with you.” 

Do you feel uncomfortable with out her protec- 
tion?” asked Marietta. ^‘If so, nothing hinders you 
from beating a retreat.” 

She had withdrawn from the front of the box, and 
the chair into w’-hich Strahan dropped close to her elbow 
was barely visible from any quarter of the house. 

I wonder why you say these things! ” he mur- 
mured. You know they aren’t true.” 

‘‘I suppose,” she replied, “I say them partly be- 
cause I know how true they are, and partly because 
you provoke me to it. Is it not enough that I am to 
be gravely cautioned by other people against your dan- 
gerous fascinations? Must you yourself be for ever re- 
minding me that, however fascinating you may be, you 
wouldn’t for the world be dangerous?” 

He took no notice of this ironical query; but it was 
with evident displeasure and anxiety that he asked: — 

^^Who has been cautioning you? Has your father 
been saying anything?” 


302 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


“No; only my husband. There! now you are really 
alarmed. I thought you would he. But take comfort; 
Lionel is not in the least jealous. He thinks that, as 
your attentions have been remarked upon, I had better 
be out for the future when you honour me with a visit, 
thaBs all. I mention this because your time is of so 
much value, and because I should be sorry for you to 
waste any of it upon fruitless calls in Arlington-street.” 

“ You mean to obey orders then! ” 

“ I havenT received any. I have been favoured with 
advice — which I daresay it would be wise on my part 
to take. Don’t you think I should be wise to take it? ” 

“ I wish I knew! ” was his reply. “ I wish I were 
as wise as you pretend to think me, and I wish — well, 
I wish, anyhow, that you were foolish enough to regret 
dismissing me! ” 

“ Oh, I am foolish enough for that,” she returned, 
with a slight laugh. 

She was, perhaps, foolish enough for anything. He 
almost believed that she was. And yet — he was no 
nearer than he had been at the outset to any certainty 
as to the form which her folly might be expected to 
take. Feminine folly sometimes assumes such terribly 
inconvenient forms! In any case he was weary of this 
eternal fencing, and resolved to have an end of it. 

“ Lady Middlewood,” said he, leaning forward, so 
that the words were almost whispered into her ear, “ it 
is for you and nobody else to decide whether I shall 
be dismissed or not. Only one thing is certain — we 
must either be a good deal more or a good deal less to 
one another in future than we have been up to now.” 

She drew back with a startled, affrighted air which 
was not altogether assumed to suit the occasion. “ What 
do you mean? ” she asked. “ I only suggested that you 
should not call quite so often while we are in London. 
Why should that make any difference?” 

He replied calmly, “ Because I can’t and won’t be 
treated in that way any longer. Because I love you; 
because you know quite well that I love you; and be- 


IN AN OPERA-BOX. 


303 


cause ” — he hesitated for one second before adding, 
‘‘because I believe that you love me, Marietta! ” 

His audacity might have won a complete victory 
for him had he chosen a less public spot in which to 
resort to direct methods of attack: as it was. Marietta 
could allege a sufficient reason for the agitation which 
she was unable to control or disguise. 

“ Hush! ” she whispered, pointing to the thin par- 
tition which separated them from the adjoining box; 
“ you will he heard, and I shall be ruined! I have never 
given you the smallest right to insult me as you have 
done; hut what eavesdropper would believe that?” 

Strahan smiled. “ There areffit any eavesdroppers,” 
he answered composedly. “ The next box is empty, and 
if it were full, we might shout at the top of our voices 
before we should he audible through that uproar.” 

For the orchestra had now resumed work with a 
crushing overture which certainly had volume enough 
to drown all other sounds; so that that pretext for clos- 
ing his mouth could scarcely he maintained. 

“ You call it an uproar! ” exclaimed Marietta, laugh- 
ing nervously. “What a barbarian you are! If you 
can’t appreciate the magnificence of it, I can; so please 
go back to your stall at once and leave me to listen 
to it.” 

“ I will go,” he answered, “ if you tell me to go and 
never return to you again. Then I shall understand 
that I have really insulted you, and that I have been a 
madman to suppose that you could ever care for me as 
I do for you. Is that what you wish me to under- 
stand? ” 

She tried to say that it was; she would undoubtedly 
have said so, but for a horrible conviction that he would 
take her at her word, if she did. Even at that supreme 
moment — the moment which she had long foreseen, 
and had always in her heart been determined to bring 
about — she did not feel sure of him. She suspected 
that he would he speedily consoled, and that release 
and relief would be to him synonymous terms. And 


304 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


while she yet hesitated he broke forth into a flood of 
impassioned language which astounded her, coming 
from the lips of one who knew so well how to hold him- 
self in check. It was impossible to doubt that he was in 
earnest, impossible to tell him the lie' which he dared 
her to tell, impossible also to throw away what she was 
both proud and ashamed of having secured. What re- 
mained possible was to gain time, and this concession 
he was the more willing to make because he was well 
aware of what such a plea must needs imply. 

To-morrow — no, not to-morrow, but the next day 
— I shall be at home at five o’clock,” she said, rather 
breathlessly. I ought not to see you — it is wrong, I 
know; but there are some things which I should like 
to say — which may help to explain, perhaps— hut you 
must see that I can’t say anything here! Mow go away, 
please.” 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE BETTER PART OF VALOUR. 

It was no very exultant woman who was driven 
away from Covent Garden in Lady Middlewood’s lux- 
urious equipage. She had been escorted down the stair- 
case by an assiduous gentleman of her acquaintance, 
who, seeing that she was alone, had offered to find her 
footman for her; during her passage through the crowd 
she had several times heard her name mentioned in ac- 
cents of admiration and envy by the bystanders (a spe- 
cies of homage to which she was never wholly insensi- 
ble), and she could look hack upon what she was fairly 
entitled to call a complete victory. But she did not 
call it by that name, nor were her feelings in any way 
akin to those of a conquering commander. She had, 
it was true, conquered Strahan in one sense; but had 


THE BETTER PART OF VALOUR. 


305 


he not conquered her in another, and perhaps a more 
real one? He had declared his conviction that she loved 
him, and he had not been contradicted — had scarcely 
even been so much as rebuked. Of course he could be 
in no doubt as to the outcome of the appointment 
which she had made with him. 

But her own doubts were grave, as well as numerous. 
It is all very well to dream of an act of impetuous and 
romantic folly; it is quite another thing to be brought 
face to face with it and with its inevitable consequences. 
Granting (which is, indeed, an enormous concession to 
make) that the emotion which we call love may be of 
lifelong duration, and that mutual love between two 
human beings may make up to them for all imaginable 
privations, was it a fact that she loved Roland Strahan 
in that way? Was it a fact that, for the sake of keep- 
ing him always with her, she would be willing to throw 
away literally everything that she possessed — fortune, 
position, domestic joys, self-respect, and the respect of 
her neighbours? Was it even a fact that, by making 
this mad sacrifice, she would be able to keep him always 
by her side? She really did not know. There were mo- 
ments when she loved the man, and there were other 
moments when she felt as if she did not wish ever to 
see him again. He was an avowed egoist, and at the 
bottom of her heart there lurked a constant misgiving 
that, when put to the test, he might prove himself a 
traitor. 

The circumstance of her self-communings having 
taken that shape will doubtless lead the perspicacious 
reader to two conclusions: in the first place, that if she 
had been really in love, she would not have questioned 
her lover’s sincerity or fidelity, and in the second, that 
she was more of a goose than of a prospective sinner. 
That the admission of an illicit affection should neces- 
sarily entail in Marietta’s mind the abandonment of all 
that she contemplated abandoning ought surely to se- 
cure for her the amused pardon of any woman of the 
world. She was, however, serious enough about it. She 


306 


MAKIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


pictured herself eloping to Australia — nothing less than 
that — with the future premier of a colony destined to 
become great, and being, perhaps, eventually received 
and acknowledged as the legitimate wife of so brilliant 
a personage. She must either make up her mind to 
that she supposed, or else take leave of Roland Strahan 
for ever; and the truth was that neither alternative 
pleased her. She had played her cards badly; she had 
allowed her hand to he forced; she had not meant to 
he driven so soon, if at all, into such a corner. And since 
it is but natural, in a situation of that kind, to be in- 
censed against somebody, she divided her anger in about 
equal portions between her husband and her admirer. 
The former, by his almost insulting permission to her 
to do what she pleased, had merited the worst that 
might befall him; the latter, by taking advantage of 
her in an unguarded and unprotected moment, had dis- 
played a lack of generosity for which she longed to 
make him smart. 

On her return home, she encountered Lionel, who 
alwa3’^s sat up late, and who was in the act of carryins: 
a Blue Book from the library into his study. He hoped 
she had enjoyed herself, wished that he had had time 
to go to the opera with her, remarked that it was a 
horrid grind to have to get up the whole history of the 
education question, made no inquiries as to whom she 
had seen, and bade her good-night. 

So that is all you care! she thought to herself as 
she mounted the broad staircase. 

Upon the landing she stood irresolutely for a mo- 
ment, and then, contrary to her habit, made her way 
to the nursery, where Boh was lying sound asleep, with 
his thumb in his mouth. That spectacle, which she con- 
templated in silence for a few minutes, to the manifest 
displeasure of the nurse, who did not like to he intruded 
upon without previous notice, afforded her the excuse 
which had probably been her motive in seeking it for 
some subsequent shedding of tears. Ultimately, she 
went to bed, and had what she considered a very bad 


THE BETTER PART OF VALOUR. 307 

night. That is to say that it was very nearly an hour 
before profound slumber descended upon her and set 
her free from her numerous cares and dubitations. 

Nobody ever wakes up in precisely the same mental 
condition as that in which he has fallen asleep, and 
Marietta, on opening her eyes and recalling the events 
of the previous evening, told herself that some of her 
conclusions had been a little too hasty. Things, after 
all, had not yet reached a climax, nor was she com- 
mitted to any surrender. She had still a respite of 
thirty hours or so before her, and, with a little fore- 
thought, it should not exceed the range of her capacity 
to reply neither in the negative nor in the affirmative 
to the questions with which she was threatened. 

In the breakfast-room, which Lionel had already 
quitted, she found her father, who apologised for in- 
truding upon her at such an hour, alleging by way of 
excuse that the oppressive heat of the weather rendered 
early rising a necessity to him. 

London,” he declared, “ is the hottest and stuffiest 
city in Europe. It is a marvel to me that people who 
have big, cool, country houses, with shady parks and 
gardens, should deliberately choose to waste the best 
part of the summer in such an atmosphere.” 

The meaning of this was that the anxious Colonel 
had found himself unable to wait until the afternoon 
to ascertain the effect upon his daughter of her hus- 
band’s proposed hint,” and also that he still clung 
to the rather forlorn hope of inducing her to turn her 
back upon Arlington-street and the waning season. 
His curiosity upon the first point was not gratified; 
but, to his surprise not less than to his delight. Mari- 
etta showed some inclination to share his views with 
regard to the second. 

You do look hot and tired and worried! ” she said 
compassionately. Now that you mention it, I believe 
I am hot and tired too. Would you come with us to 
Middlewood, I wonder, if we made up our minds all 
of a sudden to give our friends here the slip?” 


308 


MARIETTA'S MARRIAGE. 


It was all of a sudden that this simple method of 
evading a dilemma had suggested itself to her, and 
something associated with the idea caused her to laugh 
softly. Colonel Vigne joined in her merriment out of 
sheer light-heartedness and relief, though he did not 
know or guess what the joke was. 

‘^My dear child,” he replied, there is nothing in 
the world that I should enjoy so much; provided that 
Lionel ” 

“ Oh, he won’t leave London,” interrupted Mari- 
etta; ^^you need not be in the least afraid of being in 
his way. When I said ^ us,’ I alluded to Bob and myself. 
Boh requires fresh air; so do you and so do I. With 
three such good reasons for decamping, we shall be justi- 
fied, I think, in leaving Lionel to look after himself for 
a few weeks.” 

^^Well,” said her father, “ if you are sure that he 
will consent to your leaving him, and that he will not 
he able to get away from London yet himself, I shall, 
of course, be only too glad to take charge of you during 
his absence.” 

“ I am not quite sure about his being unable to 
leave London,” answered Marietta; “hut I haven’t the 
slightest doubt about his being unwilling, and I don’t 
think he is at all likely to object to my departure. 
However, nothing is easier than to find out; for I be- 
lieve he is still somewhere on the premises.” 

She rang the hell, and despatched a message to his 
lordship, who presently appeared in response thereto. 

“ Oh, by all means,” said he^ as soon as his wife’s 
wishes had been made known to him. “ I quite agree 
with you both that it is a sin to he in London at this 
time of year, and I would be off myself if I could. Un- 
fortunately, I have a good hit of committee-work on 
hand, which I can hardly abandon; but I shall take 
the first opportunity of getting out of this. When do 
you think of starting?” 

“ To-morrow morning,” answered Marietta, prompt- 
ly. “That can be managed, can’t it?” 


THE BETTER PART OF VALOUR. 


309 


Lionel raised his eyebrows. Well, it’s rather short 
notice; but I suppose, if I telegraph at once, rooms and 
a certain amount of rough food can be got ready for you. 
Are you in such a tremendous hurry?” 

Marietta gave him to understand that she was, and 
that she would greatly prefer a little possible discom- 
fort to delay; so he shrugged his shoulders and said, 
with his usual good humour, “ Very well; I’ll go and 
give instructions.” 

When the door had closed behind him, the Colonel 
improved the occasion by remarking, ^‘You ought to 
thank heaven for having given you such a good hus- 
band, my dear.” 

For having given me a husband who can part with 
me so cheerfully?” she asked, laughing. 

But she herself was cheerful, and any grudge that 
she may have felt entitled to cherish against the oblig- 
ing Lionel, did not interfere with her spirits during 
the remainder of the day. It was with an almost mis- 
chievous glee that she imagined Strahan marching forth 
unsuspectingly to keep his tryst, and drew a mental 
picture of his chapfallen countenance when he should 
be informed that the bird had flown. That little slap 
in the face he had at least earned for himself! And she 
thought she understood the man well enough to feel 
sure that he would not accept the rebuff as final — which, 
indeed, it was not meant to be. Or did she, perhaps, 
mean it to he so taken? Did she wish to retain him as 
a friend, but not as a lover? Was her joyousness due 
to relief at deliverance from a great peril, and to self- 
approval at her obedience to the voice of conscience? 

It was precisely because she could not answer any 
of these questions, because they were really very inter- 
esting questions, and because nothing now compelled 
her to return an immediate reply to them, that she glad- 
dened Colonel Vigne’s heart, on the morrow, by her 
smiling loquacity, after they had taken their places in 
the railway carriage which was to bear them northwards, 
scarcely recognise you, my dear,” the old gen- 


310 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


tleman could not help saying. ''That is, I scarcely 
recognise the grande dame that you have become in 
these days. You remind me of the child who used to 
jump for joy when I took her out of the convent for a 
holiday once upon a time.^^ 

" Well, are we not going to have a holiday, you and 
I?’’ she returned. 

And with an impulsive movement, prompted no 
doubt by the wistful look which came over the kind old 
face opposite her, she threw her arms round her father’s 
neck and kissed him on both cheeks. 

His satisfaction was unbounded; he was delighted 
to think that he had been entirely mistaken, and that 
painful reminiscences, for which his child was in no 
way responsible, had caused him to be stupid as well 
as unjust. Evidently Strahan could he nothing to her, 
since she was able to turn her back upon the man with- 
out compunction or regret. If only it were possible to 
believe that Strahan also had been misjudged, and that 
that terrible retaliatory weapon, which he, unluckily, 
possessed, would remain unused! 

Strahan, it must be confessed, was not the man to 
allow any weapon to rust in his hand; and the Colonel, 
if he had known his antagonist better, might have been 
even more disquieted than he was. As matters stood, 
however, it was scarcely probable that one who desired 
to remain upon the best of terms with Lord Middle- 
wood, as well as with her ladyship, would he tempted 
to adopt the means alluded to of wrecking their domes- 
tic happiness. Strahan, indeed, when the time came for 
him to keep the appointment which he had made, could 
not he said to have any immediate or definite designs 
upon the domestic happiness of his friends in Arling- 
ton-street. Two nights and a day had considerably 
cooled the genuine ardour which he had displayed at 
Covent Garden; to tell the truth, he dreaded the com- 
ing interview, and doubted his ability to emerge from 
it with flying colours. Having gone as far as he had 
gone, it would be manifestly impossible for him to draw 


THE BETTER PART OF VALOUR. 


311 


back, nor — if Marietta should prove reasonable — did he 
wish to do so. But he had a great fear that she would 
not be reasonable; that she would demand something 
which could not be granted; that she would insist upon 
a^ public scandal, a divorce — heaven only knew what! 
Now, Strahan had quite made up his mind that this 
must not be. “ I simply cannot afford it! he said 
to himself irritably, and not without a certain sense of 
shame. “ It won^t be the pleasantest job in the world 
to tell her so, though ! ’’ 

Thus, the news that her ladyship had left for Derby- 
shire that morning, and was not expected to return to 
town, did not fall with the weight of a crushing blow 
upon her would-be visitor, who handed in his card and 
turned away from the door without inquiring the cause 
of so abrupt a departure. This, in truth, he had at once 
and accurately guessed, so that neither his pride nor 
his hopes suffered any serious diminution. Marietta’s 
flight was as good as an avowal — and, in many respects, 
far better than a verbal one would have been. He could 
now take his time. He mentally compared himself to 
a weasel following up a rabbit. The unhappy rabbit 
has no chance, though when it starts upon its futile, ter- 
rified course, it may believe that escape is possible. The 
comparison was scarcely a pretty one. “ But I am a 
very mild weasel, in pursuit of a rather wild rabbit,” 
he mused smilingly. “ I shall be guilty of no cruelties; 
perhaps — who knows? — I shall not even be guilty of 
any kindnesses. What can’t be questioned is that she 
has given me a fine opportunity for honourable retreat, 
and that, if I had wisdom and strength of mind enough, 
I should jump at it.” 

But presently it occurred to him that he was per- 
haps taking rather too much for granted. How did he 
know that Marietta had departed of her own free will? 
How did he know that she had not been ordered off 
into retirement by a justly indignant husband? By 
her own confession, Lionel had warned her against him; 
and it would not be the least unlike her to have made 


312 


MARIETTA'S MARRIAGE. 


a more momentous and infinitely more foolish con- 
fession to Lionel himself on her return from the opera. 
That was not quite so pleasant! Strahan continued his 
walk with a strong sense upon him that he had better 
he prepared for danger ahead; and since cowardice was 
not one of his numerous failings, he was almost glad, 
on turning out of St. James’s-street into Pall Mall, to 
find himself face to face with the man who had been 
his friend, and who might very likely have been con- 
verted into his enemy. 

But there was no suggestion of enmity in Lionel’s 
cheery greeting of Hullo, Strahan ! Where are you 
off to with that glum visage? Nothing wrong in the 
City, I hope? ” 

Things aren’t looking too bright in the City at 
present,” Strahan replied; but, so far as we are con- 
cerned, there isn’t much to grumble at.” He added, 
watching the other narrowly while he spoke, I have 
just been calling at your house, Middlewood.” 

Ah! then you have drawn the covert blank. My 
wife made tracks for home this morning, almost at a 
moment’s notice. She is sick of this sweltering town 
— and so am I, goodness knows! However, it isn’t quite 
such an easy matter for me as it is for her to cancel 
engagements, and I don’t suppose I shall be a free man 
much before the second week in August. Come down 
to us for the twelfth, like a good fellow, and let me 
have the pleasure of seeing you shoot as straight as you 
did last year.” 

After this, a few words were exchanged relating to 
matters of business, and then the two men parted. One 
of them had actually forgotten an alleged peril to which 
he had never given any credence; the other, who was 
aware of having escaped a very real one, and who 
breathed more freely in consequence, could not sup- 
press a slightly contemptuous grimace. 

Really,” he said to himself, when people go out 
of their way to invite treachery — for I suppose it must 
be called treachery — they have nobody but themselves 


STRAHAN THE INVINCIBLE. 


313 


to blame if they are taken at their word. All the same, 
I don^t think I will shoot over those Middlewood moors. 
Why, in the name of common-sense, should I ride at a 
yawning quarry with my eyes wide open?^’ 

Well, of course there was only one reason for be- 
having in the manner thus figuratively described; but 
that reason, as the history of generation after generation 
of human beings testifies, is strong enough to account 
for any act of rashness or folly. It was strong enough 
to make Roland Strahan, one of the coolest and most 
far-sighted of men, wind up his meditations with an im- 
patient oath. 

Oh, I shall go! ” he muttered; ‘Hhere’s no doubt 
that I shall go! I am a fool for my pains, and I shall 
lay up trouble for myself which might have been 
avoided; but — I love her! ’’ 


CHAPTER XXXiy. 

STRAHAN THE INVINCIBLE. 

Let them come in their thousands! ” cried Betty 
Mallet proudly; “they won’t stare me out of counte- 
nance, I can promise you. What do I care if all Lon- 
don, or all the world, chooses to look askance at me? 
I have done nothing wrong, and most certainly I don’t 
intend to run away from anybody.” 

This defiant challenge urli et orhi was delivered early 
in the month of August at Middlewood, where Lady 
Maria and her granddaughter had been for some days 
staying as guests. It was called forth hy the imminent 
assembling of a large house-party, and by a remark 
which Lady Maria had let fall during breakfast to the 
effect that, under all the circumstances, it would be 
as well for her and Betty to retire to Chelton. The 


314 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


circumstances;, it had to be confessed, were not over- 
propitious to any public appearance on the part of the 
latter. Her precipitate flight into the country had, un- 
fortunately, done her no good; the story of that insane 
expedition of hers to Hampton Court had leaked out 
and had been freely discussed; severe strictures had 
been passed upon her, and these had been duly reported 
to her grandmother by some of those kind friends who 
are always ready to undertake the discharge of a pain- 
ful duty. The consequence was that poor old Lady 
Maria had lost courage, and had jumped to the con- 
clusion that she had a hale of hopelessly damaged goods 
upon her hands. In plain words, she had given up 
dreaming of splendid alliances, was prepared to listen 
to proposals from any decent man to whom wealth and 
good blood constituted attractions, and was of opinion 
that, pending the advent of some such decent man, 
Betty would do well to keep as much as possible out of 
sight. 

But it scarcely needs to he said that this was by no 
means the view of Miss Betty, who did not regard her- 
self in the light of a blemished filly at an auction, and 
upon whom the hare suggestion of avoiding possible 
discourtesies by ignominious retreat acted as a power- 
ful tonic. She was now sitting under a huge umbrella- 
tent on the lawn with her sister-in-law, and she had 
just expressed her determination to await the attack 
of any number of foes — subject, of course, to the 
permission and invitation of her brother and her 
hostess. 

don’t think that there is any reason at all for 
you to run away,” Marietta said, and I am sure none 
of these people will dare to be impertinent to you — 
except, perhaps, Mr. St. Quintin, whose impertinence 
knows no bounds, and who is really answerable for all 
the fuss that has been made.” 

“Well, I don’t know so much about that,” observed • 
Betty. ''He couldn’t help seeing what he saw, and I 
believe he has been as good as his word and held his 


STRAHAN THE INVINCIBLE. 


315 


tongue ever since. It doesn’t seem to have been Mr. 
St. Quintin who has given me away.” 

“ He could perfectly well have helped seeing any- 
body or anything,” Marietta declared. All he had to 
do was to look the other way, and it seems to me that, 
if he had been a gentleman, that is exactly what he 
would have done. However, if yon don’t mind being 
spied upon, it is not for me to object to amateur de- 
tectives. I think Lionel might have allowed me to see 
the list of his guests before he gave verbal invitations; 
but I dare say he wouldn’t, in any case, have let me 
strike out Mr. St. Quintin’s name. I believe he loves 
that insufferable young man as much as I abhor him.” 

Betty at once took up the cudgels on Mr. St. Quin- 
tin’s behalf. Insufferable he may be,” she returned'. 
“I don’t say that he isn’t, and indeed I myself have 
sometimes found him so. But it is absurd to assert 
that he isn’t a gentleman and to call him a spy. It 
is only bare justice to acknowledge that he is a gentle- 
man in all his dealings; though he doesn’t think much 
of me — and small blame to him! ” 

All things considered, this was a generous testimony 
to character on Betty’s part; but perhaps it was only 
elicited by a sentiment akin to that which forbids the 
beating of one’s own dog by any instrument save one’s 
own stick, held in one’s own hand. Miss Mallet had a 
rod in pickle for Mr. St. Quintin which, by her way of 
thinking, he deserved to taste, and when, a few days 
after this, he reached Middlewood, together with numer- 
ous other visitors, she greeted her former friend after 
a fashion so frigid that he instinctively drew back from 
her vicinity. For that matter, he had expected nothing 
else. It was but natural that she should hate the sight 
of him, and when, because he loved the sight of her, 
he had accepted Lionel’s invitation, he had known very 
well what lay before him. 

Lionel himself had only reached Middlewood twenty- 
four hours in advance of his guests, and to him also a 
somewhat chilling reception had been accorded by one 
21 


316 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


of the inmates of the honse. By the other three — ^that 
is to say, by Lady Maria, Betty and Colonel Vigne — 
he had been welcomed warmly enough; hut his wife 
was not particularly glad, and did not affect to he par- 
ticularly glad, to see him. Why, indeed, should she he, 
considering that his anxiety to see her had yielded to 
an apparently stronger anxiety to see his horses run in 
Sussex, and that he was attracted to Derbyshire even 
now by nothing hut a sense of what he owed to the 
grouse and his friends? 

He did not, however, show any sign of feeling ag- 
grieved, nor did he even appear to remember that his 
wife’s conduct, prior to her departure from London, 
had been such as to call for a mild admonition frojn 
him. He almost took her breath away, shortly after 
his arrival, by announcing, in a cool, matter-of-course 
way, that Strahan would be with them soon. 

Not until next week, I am afraid; he is up to the 
eyes in work which he can’t leave. But he tells me that 
he hopes presently to he able to make arrangements for 
a longish holiday.” 

“ I wonder,” Marietta could not help saying, that 
you don’t order the dinner and arrange the flowers and 
write out the menu-cards. Of course you are master 
here, and you can ask anybody you like to stay with 
you; hut surely it is usual for invitations to come nomi- 
nally from the so-called mistress of the house.” 

Not when it is a case of men and guns, I think,” 
answered Lionel. Still I am very sorry if I have asked 
anybody whom you would rather have left out. ]3o 
you dislike any of these fellows? Strahan I am sure 
you won’t mind.” 

Marietta laughed a little. Oh, I mind nobody 
and nothing,” she replied; I thought it was you who 
minded Mr. Strahan. At all events, you requested me 
to discourage his visits to Arlington-street.” 

^‘'That was a totally different matter,” Lionel de- 
clared; one may he very glad to have a man down to 
stay in the country, as one of a crowd, and yet not 


STRAHAN THE INVINCIBLE. 


317 


wish him to turn up every afternoon in London. Be- 
sides, if there had not seemed to he some danger of silly 
gossip, I should not have had the slightest objection to 
Strahan’s calling upon you in London as often as he 
chose. I thought I had said so at the time.’^ 

You made that perfectly clear at the time, thanks,’’ 
answered Marietta, drily. “ I don’t quite understand 
why there should have been more danger of gossip then 
than now, or in Arlington-street than here; but no 
doubt you know best.” 

Lady Maria was very glad to hear that Mr. Strahan 
(whose judicious counsels had enabled her to enjoy a 
successful little gamble) was expected. The E. C. U., 
the poor-box at St. Winifred’s and various funds and 
institutions equally laudable having profited after an 
indirect fashion through him, she was disposed to regard 
him as a benefactor to the church, in addition to his 
other merits, and she spoke of him in appreciative terms 
to St. Quintin, who responded by a dissentient grunt. 

Oh, you don’t like him, I observe,” said the old 
lady; no doubt there will always he plenty of people 
to dislike a man who has got on so fast. But it isn’t 
pretty of you to put on that air of being able to say a 
great deal if you choose.” 

She shook her head and her uplifted forefinger, add- 
ing that we ought all of us to be on our guard against 
envy and jealousy. 

^^Mr. St. Quintin is far above envy,” remarked 
Betty, who chanced to be standing near; ^^he is too 
well aware of his own superiority to be envious of any- 
body. And of course there is no denying that he could 
say shocking things about some of us if he were not 
as merciful as he is great.” 

St. Quintin did not think he had deserved that, and 
he took an early opportunity of mentioning to Miss 
Mallet that he did not think he had deserved it. But 
Betty, who had already been enraged by the kindly 
patronage of several of her sister-in-law’s lady guests, 
and who had been made to feel that, if an innocent. 


318 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


she was at least a foolish and deeply compromised young 
woman, was inexorable. 

I should have thought/’ said she, that you would 
have accepted my modest, hut sincere, compliments 
in a more grateful spirit. I am sure you can’t be envious 
of Mr. Strahan, though I believe he is a rather better 
man than you are with a gun or on a horse. Morally 
speaking, you can look down from a sublime height upon 
him and all the rest of us, and we humbly acknowledge 
it. What more would you have? ” 

Oh, nothing that I am at all likely to get, thank 
you,” replied the meek St. Quintin. I can’t say that I 
envy Strahan, in the sense of wishing to change places 
with him; but I do rather envy him his luck, which is 
a good deal better than mine.” 

Without being envious, one may easily groan under 
the pangs of jealousy, and St. Quintin was no more ex- 
empt from the latter infirmity than any other man who 
is hopelessly in love. Consequently, Betty made his 
blood boil — it may even have been her cruel intention 
so to do — ^by the marked and persistent manner in which 
she attached herself to Mr. Strahan throughout the 
evening which followed his arrival at Middlewood. Mo 
man with eyes in his head — least of all a man with 
jealous eyes in his head — could help seeing that Stra- 
han’s was a fascinating sort of personality, nor, in view 
of Lady Maria’s diminished ambitions, could it be looked 
upon as by any means certain that advances on his part 
would be spurned by the family. And that a very little 
encouragement would induce the fellow to make such 
advances who could doubt? It was obvious that so 
splendid a match would be the making of him. 

These apprehensions might have been allayed — 
though others might have been substituted for them — 
if the uneasy St. Quintin had overheard a short collo- 
quy which took place upon the staircase shortly before 
midnight, while he was getting into his smoking clothes. 
Strahan, who had changed his dress-coat for a shabby 
old shooting- jacket (velvet and plush had no charm’s 


STRAHAN THE INVINCIBLE. 


319 


for him), was descending the stairs when he met his 
hostess, with whom he had not as yet exchanged half-a- 
dozen words. He drew aside to let her pass, glancing 
up quickly at the long corridor above him; but Mari- 
etta, while taking note of that tacit hint, stood still 
and surveyed him with an ironical smile. 

“ Don’t be alarmed,” said she; they have all gone 
down, except Mr. St. Quintin, and he walks so heavily 
that his approach can be foretold from any distance. 
If it isn’t too impertinent, may I take this opportunity 
of asking why you have come here ? ” 

^‘Surely,” he replied, ^^that question answers itself! 
Would it not be rather more to the purpose if I were 
to ask why you left London after promising to receive 
me on the very day that you started?” 

Most people,” returned Marietta, “ would tell you 
that that also is a question which answers itself.” 

“Not a doubt of it? But would most people be 
right? That, as, of course, you must be aware, is what 
I have come to Derbyshire, without any invitation from 
you, to discover.” 

Marietta was rather glad to hear that. It had oc- 
curred to her as being well within the limits of possi- 
bility that Mr. Strahan had come to Derbyshire for the 
sole and simple purpose of shooting grouse. But there 
was no manifestation of pleasure at all in the frowning 
gaze with which she confronted him. 

“ I cannot understand Lionel having asked you! ” 
she observed after a moment. 

“ I suppose,” answered Strahan coolly, “ he saw no 
reason why he shouldn’t. Perhaps there is no reason? ” 

“ Except that I might have told him of your hav- 
ing insulted me the last time we met.” 

“ That would have been a conclusive reason, I admits 
but as vou didn’t tell him, and as you never meant to 
tell him ” 

Strahan’s methods with women were apt to be brutal. 
He did not know a great deal about them; but his ex- 
perience had been that brutality often succeeds where 


320 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


respectful sighs are of no avail, and the fact that Lady 
Middlewood had not made the confession alluded to 
was far more significant to him than the angry gesture 
with which she cut him short. 

You are insolent! ” she exclaimed; you have no 
right to say that I never meant to tell my husband! 
If you ever dare to speak to me again as you did that 
night at the opera, I may he obliged to tell him.” 

Strahan took up this challenge without an instant’s 
hesitation. It is true that, in repeating his offence, he 
adopted a more pleading and less authoritative tone 
than he had hitherto employed; hut, nothing could 
have been more unequivocal than his avowal of love, 
nor did he offer any excuses for himself. These things, 
he said, don’t happen to us because we invite them or 
wish for them; they happen because they are inevitable. 
And he spoke with so much warmth and such evident 
sincerity that she could not find it in her heart to inter- 
rupt him. Did she love the man? Was she indignant 
with his audacity or amused by his candour in lamenting 
an attachment which might easily prove disastrous to 
his prospects? Should she pardon or rebuke him? All 
these questions suggested themselves to her while he 
talked; but there was one which she did not so much 
as entertain for a moment. It was, indeed, quite cer- 
tain that happen what might, she would not denounce 
him to Lionel. 

And so, when at length he caught her hand and 
pressed it to his lips, the dismissal which was the im- 
mediate result of that impertinence did not alarm him. 
Never a word had he obtained in answer to his en- 
treaties; hut he laughed a little under his breath, all 
the same, as he made his way towards the smoking-room. 
He knew as much as he wanted to know: more than 
that, he had now every reason to hope that Marietta 
would prove what he mentally called tractable.” 

She proved so far tractable that she accosted him 
the next morning with complete amiability; hut she 
took very good care, during that and several ensuing 


STRAHAN THE INVINCIBLE. 


321 


days to allow him no second chance of driving her into 
a corner. Nor was he in any great hurry. He was out 
on the moors, enjoying and distinguishing himself, from 
morning to night; he was not unwilling to grant aiid 
receive a respite; he foresaw, too, that the fuller mu- 
tual understanding which was inevitable might entail 
his departure from a house where he was having very 
good fun. 

His presence, meanwhile, was a source of constant 
and deep disquietude to one of his fellow-guests. The 
vigilant Colonel, who was not equal to joining the 
shooting-parties, seldom let his daughter out of his 
sight, and was thus able to assure himself that there 
were at least no clandestine' meetings between her and 
Strahan; but during the evenings he did (being on the 
look-out for such things) detect occasional swift glances 
which struck him as only too significant, and he could 
only marvel at the density of his son-in-law, who 
seemed determined to detect nothing at all. 

One afternoon, when Marietta, with three other 
ladies, had driven out towards the moors to meet the 
shooters on their return, the Colonel, for whom there 
had been no room in the carriage, started off on foot 
in pursuit. It was very hot, and he was no longer 
much of a pedestrian; but he had a premonition of 
coming danger which urged him onwards and upwards, 
and at the end of three or four weary miles this was 
verified by the spectacle of Strahan, with his gun under 
his arm, sauntering slowly along beside Lady Middle- 
wood. The Colonel instinctively stepped aside, as the 
couple drew near, availing himself of the cover afforded 
by a large plantation, and thus he was enabled to over- 
hear what Marietta was saying. 

I suppose it canT be helped. I dare say it is no 
fault of yours, and I am sure it is none of mine,’^ were 
her alarming words. 

Then she caught sight of her father and started 
visibly, the colour rushing into her cheeks. But Strahan 
neither started nor blushed. His keen eyes flitted 


322 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


quickly from his companion to the over-heated old gen- 
tleman who blocked the pathway, and he smiled a 
little, as at some diverting thought. 

You don’t look as if you were in the very best of 
training. Colonel Vigne,” he remarked affably. You 
ought to have been out with us this morning, when the 
sun was higher; you would have reduced your weight 
by three or four pounds at a single stroke.” 

The Colonel’s choking rejoinder was unintelligible. 
Presently other sportsmen, with attendant ladies, hove 
in sight: Marietta hurriedly joined them; and thus it 
came to pass that Colonel Vigne w^as soon left in the 
background with Strahan, who had paused to lace up his 
hoot. 

“ I am glad to have this opportunity of a word 
with you, sir,” began the old gentleman hoarsely. 

I thought you would be,” returned the other, with 
much composure; that’s why my bootlace got adrift, 
you know. You haven’t treated me in such a way as 
to make me particularly solicitous for your welfare; 
still, in common humanity, I couldn’t let you have an 
apoplectic fit, when getting your breath out was sure 
to relieve you. Please, get it out; don’t mind me.” 

The poor Colonel forgot himself so far as to shake 
his fist close under Strahan’s nose. “ You insolent 
puppy! ” he gasped. I shall not waste my breath, at 
all events, in saying what I was going to say to you; hut 
one thing I should like to know — are you man enough 
to resent an insult? If so, I am at your orders when 
you please.” 

Strahan laughed. “ That is nonsense,” he replied 
tranquilly. It would he out of the question for me to 
fight you, even if I wanted to do so — which, I am sure, 
is far from being the case; hut ” 

^^Why out of the question?” demanded the irate 
Colonel. 

Oh, for various good reasons. But, as you know, 
there are other methods of carrying on warfare than by 
fire and sword, and I hope you will not drive me to 


A FOE IN NEED. 


323 


have recourse to them. You seem to have forgotten 
our little talk in London and the truce which came of 
it.” 

I agreed to no truce,” the Colonel declared; and 
if I had, a truce is a temporary arrangement. Of course 
you have it in your power to do me a great injury; but 
I may be ready to incur that and avoid a greater one. 
Since you have no stomach for fighting, will you at 
least undertake upon your oath ” 

Oh, dear, no!” interrupted Strahan; I must ab- 
solutely decline to undertake anything upon my oath. 
Except indeed to tell Middlewood all that I know about 
your history if you carry out the threat which I can 
see is upon the tip of your tongue. You may remember 
my warning you in London that you would have to 
allow me a free hand; I can only repeat what I said 
then. It is for you to decide whether you will or will 
not make a statement which nobody will believe, with 
the certainty of being met by a counter-statement, the 
truth of which can be easily proved.” 

The Colonel sat down stiffly upon the bank by the 
wayside and waved his hand. “ Go on, sir,” said he, I 
can’t walk with you. You shall have my answer as soon 
as I have made up my mind what to do; but rest assured 
of this: you shall not frighten me into doing nothing 
at all.” 


CHAPTEE XXXV. 

A FOE IN NEED. 

Colonel Vigne sat on the grassy bank where he 
had been left, with his elbows upon his knees and his 
chin supported by his folded hands. He said to him- 
self that this is a poor sort of world, that a plain man, 
who would fain do his duty, has not much chance in it 


324 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


against the rascals who form the majority of its in- 
habitants, and that the ways of Providence — always sup- 
posing Providence to take more interest than is appar- 
ent in a planet so insignificant and so iniquitous — are 
past comprehension. It would be so simple and so 
manifestly just to allow each poor mortal a fair start! 
Equipped with a conscience and a will of moderate 
strength, who can say that most of us would not be 
in a position to resist the fiery darts of mankind’s ene- 
my? What reasonable explanation can there be of 
the enigma of heredity? W% are the sins of the fathers 
(and the mothers) to be visited upon their unoffending 
children? The Colonel scratched his ear and muttered 
that he was hanged if he knew. He added that this 
sort of thing was enough to make a man doubt the truth 
of everything that he had been taught. 

But, as he was a sensible, practical old fellow, he 
soon recognised the utility of vexing his brains over 
problems which never have been and never can he 
solved, and turned his attention to the question of 
what, under existing circumstances, could be done. 
Well, of course he could speak to Lionel and take his 
chance of Strahan’s threatened retaliation. He might 
even forestall Strahan by honestly confessing what he 
had hitherto shrunk from revealing. But there were 
several strong objections to that straightforward course. 
To begin with, he owed something to the memory of 
his dead wife; then, too, he could not hear the thought 
of affixing a stigma to his innocent daughter; finally, 
he felt a not unnatural reluctance to avow, that he had 
withheld a statement which certainly ought to have 
been made before Marietta’s marriage. 

It just comes to this,” he concluded ruefully, that 
I am absolutely helpless! Short of shooting the fellow, 
there’s no getting rid of him — and he evidently don’t 
mean to let me have a shot at him. Upon my word and 
honour. I’ve more than half a mind to put a* bullet into 
my own head! ” 

The sound of an approaching footfall broke the • 


A FOE IN NEED. 


325 


thread of these dismal meditations, and he glanced np 
with some impatience at the intruder, a small seedy- 
looking man in a threadbare coat, who presently came 
to a standstill in front of him and said, in hesitating, 
deprecating accents: “ I beg your pardon, sir/^ 

What for? asked the Colonel curtly. 

“ For taking the liberty of addressing you,” replied 
the stranger, with disarming meekness. “ But I had 
sat down to rest in the wood a short distance above you, 
and I saw — I could not help seeing — the — er — inter — 
view which took place just now between you and Mr. 
Strahan. And something of what you said — which was 
spoken rather loudly — came to my ears.” 

“ The devil it did! ” thought the Colonel. Here’s 
a nice complication! ” 

He knitted his brows and stared at the eavesdropper 
who had probably heard him own that Strahan had it in 
his power to do him a great injury. “ Well, sir, what 
then ? ” he asked, in a stern tone of voice. 

The man’s red eyelids blinked rapidly and nervously. 
His nose also was red, and he had the unhealthy com- 
plexion of a confirmed tippler. The ragged beard dnd 
moustache which concealed the lower part of his face 
were streaked with gray hairs which had evidently ar- 
rived before they were due, and he wore that indescrib- 
able air of having been repeatedly kicked which lends 
pathos to the aspect of many a vagrant mongrel. 

“ Oh, nothing,” he made haste to reply — nothing 
at all, I assure you! I merely gathered from your man- 
ner and from your shaking your fist in his face that 
— that — in short that he is not a friend of yours.” 

The Colonel laughed. “ One doesn’t usually shake 
one’s fist in the face of one’s friend,” he agreed. Ho; 
Mr. Strahan is not a friend of mine; I make you wel- 
come to that piece of information. Perhaps you are 
going to inform me in return that he isn’t a friend of 
yours ? ” 

Sir,” replied the stranger, with a good deal of 
tremulous earnestness, I can only tell you, that if there 


326 


MAE-IETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


is a man on earth whom I should rejoice to see in hell, 
that man is Koland Strahan/’ 

I should think you might count upon meeting 
him there/^ observed the Colonel, who was not greatly 
fascinated with his interlocutor; ^^but the chances are 
that you will have to wait a good many years. You 
don’t appear to me to have taken as much care of your 
health as he has of his.” 

It is he,” replied the other, spreading out his hands 
tragically, “ he, and nobody else, who has made me what 
I am! Can you wonder that my heart warms to any 
enemy of his?” He added presently, as the old gentle- 
man displayed no symptom of reciprocal warmth, My 
name is Brydon.” 

“ I am sorry to tell you,” returned Colonel Vigne, 
that that says nothing to me.” 

“ Ah! I thought you might possibly have heard. 
But no doubt it has become an old and forgotten story, 
and I dare say Lord Middlewood, who always made 
much of Strahan, doesn’t often care to allude to what 
took place during their last term at Oxford. A scape- 
goat was found — I was the scapegoat — and nobody can 
have expected that my turn would ever come. It has 
come now, though! ” concluded the stranger, slapping 
his breast-pocket significantly and exultantly. 

Upon this the Colonel pricked up his ears. “ I know 
who you are now,” said he; you are the ex-undergrad- 
uate who was believed to have been the cause of that 
unfortunate girl’s suicide and who disappeared, rather 
than give evidence at the inquest. Am I to understand 
that you can- now prove your innocence?” 

The man nodded. More than that, sir; I can 
prove Strahan’s guilt. I have in my pocket letters from 
him to Maggie Field which places the matter beyond 
a doubt. Even at the time I had suspicions of him — 
very strong suspicions.” 

Then why the dickens did you run away, man ? ” 
the Colonel asked bluntly. 

Because I might have been guilty — several people. 


A FOE IN NEED. 


327 


I believe, might have been guilty — and because that 
devil frightened the life out of me. He pretended to 
advise me as a friend; he said there was evidence against 
me and none against anybody else, and that I had better 
be off, unless I wanted to be put upon my trial for 

manslaughter. I have heard since that such a charge 

couldn’t have been made; but he assured me that it 

could, and he seemed to know all about it. So I be- 

lieved him, and rushed upon my own ruin. I should 
tell you that I have no near relations and only a very 
small fortune of my own to live upon. My uncle, who 
is a clergyman and who meant me to take orders, paid 
my University expenses, but that scandal gave him an 
excuse for washing his hands of me which I don’t sup- 
pose he was very sorry to have. Anyhow, when I 
thought it safe to write to him, his reply was that I 
had exhausted his benevolence and must take the con- 
sequences of my actions. That meant ruin — neither 
more nor less. What hope could there be for such a 
man as I am, without one single friend to lend him a 
helping hand, and scarcely enough money to keep him 
in — in ” 

^^In liquor?” suggested the Colonel. 

He could not help despising this trembling, prema- 
ture old creature, who certainly did not look like a man 
for whom, under any circumstances, there could have 
been very much hope. The unfortunate Brydon ex- 
hibited no resentment. 

Oh, I’m a drunkard,” he confessed. I don’t 
deny it; there would be very little use in my denying 
it, i suppose. Besides, I don’t care who knows what I 
am. There is only one thing in the world that do 
care for now,” he continued, in more resolute accents, 
and that is to pay out the man who has driven me to 
drink and beggary.” 

^^Ah! — and you think you can pay him out?” 

^^It’s no question of thinking, sir; I know I can. 
These letters which I have in my pocket would be 
enough to damn him in any . court of law. Of course 


328 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


I know now that that talk about a trial for manslaughter 
was all nonsense and that he isn’t open to any legal 
form of punishment; but I take it that he can he ruined, 
nevertheless. Once let him be dropped by his aristo- 
cratic friends, who would be obliged to drop him if the 
truth came out, and you may be sure that it won’t he 
very long before he has to resign his secretaryship and 
all his ambitions with it. If you’ll allow me. I’ll sit 
down; for I am not in very good health, and it makes 
my head swim to talk while I am standing.” 

Seating himself upon the hank, he proceeded with 
his revelations, which were of an interesting character. 
He knew quite well, it appeared, who Colonel Vigne 
was, and he allowed it to he inferred that he also knew 
why Lady Middlewood’s father would not he sorry to 
he provided with the means of crushing Strahan. Such 
means, he said, existed, and were obtainable upon easy 
terms. 

You must understand,” he explained, that I 
realised long ago how I had been fooled, and that I 
have been hungering and thirsting for revenge all this 
time. But what hope could I have? I had done for 
myself by absconding, and to prove that that villain 
ought to have absconded, instead of me, seemed the 
wildest of impossibilities. All I could do was to keep 
a constant eye upon him, trusting that he might end 
by committing some other infamy which I should be 
able to discover and expose. But one morning, what 
should I see in the papers hut an advertisement, im- 
ploring W. B. to communicate at once with Bessie F., 
who was dying, and who wished to put him in the way 
of clearing his character of an unfounded charge. I 
cou’ld not doubt that this was a message to William 
Brydon from Bessie Field, Maggie’s elder sister, and I 
reached Oxford just in time to see the poor girl before 
she died. What she told me was very much what I 
had expected to hear, except that her motive for having 
kept silence, and indeed perjured herself, at the inquest 
was rather an odd one. She was a great deal older than 


A FOE IN NEED. 


329 


Maggie — more than ten years, I believe — and not at all 
good-looking; so one would scarcely have conjectured 
that she would have fallen in love with Strahan. How- 
ever, there is no accounting for the eccentricities of 
women or what they will lead to, and it seems that, in 
spite of all she knew and could have proved, she pre- 
ferred letting an innocent man suffer to injuring a 
scoundrel who had never looked twice at her. It was 
only when she found herself at the point of death that 
she was seized with pangs of remorse and put that ad- 
vertisement into the papers. Even then she begged 
me to he generous and not to use the letters which she 
felt bound to hand over to me in such a way as to blight 
Strahan’s career. I said I would be as generous to him 
as he had been to me.” 

“ The letters,” said Colonel Vigne, “ are conclusive, 
I presume? ” 

Absolutely conclusive. The earlier ones contain 
a promise of marriage, in view of certain contingencies; 
the later ones ridicule such an idea, and remind her that 
she has no character to lose. That was true enough; 
she hadn’t much character left at the time when he 
made her acquaintance. All the same, she was true to 
him, I believe, and it was undoubtedly his cruelty that 
drove her to commit suicide.” 

It isn’t a very pretty story,” remarked the Colonel 
musingly; still I should scarcely like to say that it 
was Strahan’s duty to marry such a young woman as 
you describe.” 

“ That’s not the question. What I imagine that 
Strahan would give a good deal to keep dark is the fact 
that he deliberately got behind another man’s back to 
screen himself, and that he has ruined that other man 
quite as effectually as he did poor Maggie Field.” 

I suppose he would.” 

‘^Hot a doubt of it! And, to be quite frank with 
you, sir, my intention was to intercept him this very 
afternoon and ask him how much he was prepared to 
give for the letters which I have in my pocket. As 


330 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


you know, it was impossible to intercept him on this 
occasion, because he was not alone, and I am glad, upon 
the whole, that I was prevented from carrying out my 
original design. For, more reasons than one, I would 
rather sell the documents to you than to him.^^ 

“ Sell them! exclaimed the Colonel; do you mean 
to say that you propose simply to levy blackmail upon 
the fellow? But then what becomes of your revenge — 
and your damaged reputation?” 

Brydon smiled. I assure you,” he replied, that 
I do not care one solitary curse for my reputation, which 
is irretrievably damaged. Didn’t I tell you that I am 
a drunkard and that my sole remaining pleasure in 
life is to get drunk? Revenge, of course, would be a 
pleasure, and I was to a certain extent sure of that; 
for I don’t suppose he would have enjoyed paying me 
a thousand pounds, which was the price I meant to ask. 
Added to which, he would always have remained in fear 
of my having kept back some further documentary evi- 
dence. But I see now that there is a much more satis- 
factory plan open to me. You will buy the letters, and 
you will use them to pulverise him. That way I shall 
get my revenge and my money into the bargain, you 
see.” 

You are not a very estimable person, Mr. Brydon,” 
remarked the Colonel drily. 

“ I don’t pretend to me. Once upon a time I might 
have been as estimable as other people; but that time 
is gone and will never return — thanks to our good 
friend. Certainly I should like to plant a dagger in 
his back, if I could; I have been dogging his steps ever 
since he returned to England for no other purpose, 
and perhaps I might even have stabbed him' with an 
actual dagger before now, if I had had the nerve. But 
I am not sure that I don’t want almost as much to have 
a pocket full of sovereigns. Anyhow my luck seems 
to have turned at last; for I am in a fair way to get 
my heart’s desire in both respects.” 

H’m! well, I’m not so sure about that,” said the 


A FOE IN NEED. 


331 


Colonel. “ Fm sure, I can’t afford to give you a thou- 
sand pounds, anyhow.” 

‘‘In your case, my dear sir, I should he prepared 
to accept much lower terms. I regard your interven- 
tion in the light of a luxury, which one can’t expect 
to get for nothing. Let us call it five hundred and say 
no more about it.” 

“ I can make no offer until I know what I am buy- 
ing,” replied the prudent old warrior. “First of all, 
let me see these letters; then I shall be in a position to 
talk to you.” 

Mr. Brydon pointed out that, although this sounded 
only reasonable, it was really demanding a good deal. 

“Am I to enable you to steal my thunder?” he 
aske. “ Suppose, after satisfying yourself that proof 
of Strahan’s guilt exists, you were to decline to pay 
for that proof? Your object, I imagine, is simply to 
'get rid of the man, and that object might very well he 
obtained by telling him what you have discovered and 
threatening to tell others. Oh, I mean no offence,” he 
added hastily, as the old gentleman grasped his stick; 
“ all I want you to understand is that if I submit these 
papers to your inspection, I shall be giving some evi- 
dence of trust in your honour.” 

“ Your trust shall not be betrayed, sir,” the Colonel 
declared. “If those papers prove what you say they 
prove, I will pay you what I can afford for them as soon 
as I can get the money. That is to say, three hundred 
pounds in about a week’s time. Very well, then — ^three 
hundred and fifty; hut beyond that I can’t go. Sup- 
posing that they don’t give conclusive proof — well, 
in that case they wouldn’t be worth three hundred and 
fifty of any man’s money, would they? Is it a bar- 
gain?” 

Not without some further haggling was it so pro- 
nounced, hut the Colonel was firm, while his opponent 
was both weak and eager to place in other hands the 
task of attacking the redoubtable Strahan. He ended, 
therefore, by giving in, and Colonel Vigne, seated upon 
22 


332 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


the bank, had the pleasure of perusing through his 
'pince-nez a series of missives which, if human justice 
were not the poor makeshift that it is, should have 
sufficed to hang their writer. 

These,^^ he remarked, while he removed the glasses 
from his nose, ^‘'are the letters of a thorough-paced 
blackguard! 

They are,^^ Brydon agreed. 

A thorough-paced blackguard, sir! — I never read 
anything more brutal and heartless in my life. And 
with such letters in my possession, it will be odd if I 
canT send Mr. Strahan back to Australia in double- 
quick time.’’ 

The thing to do,” observed the other vindictively, 
“ will be to expose and disgrace him publicly here. 
It won’t matter whether he returns to Australia or 
what becomes of him afterwards.” 

That’s as may be; I don’t bind myself to create a 
public scandal; I haven’t made up my mind yet how 
I shall act. Meanwhile, time is of importance, and I 
should like to use these documents at once, if you will 
trust me with them. I will give you an I. 0. U. for 
the money, and, as it is invested in consols, I presume 
that I shall be able to hand it over to you in hard cash 
within a week. Will that do?” 

The point thus raised brought about another pro- 
tracted debate, the outcome of which was a second suc- 
cess for the Colonel. Brydon, indeed, seemed to be 
physically incapable of holding out long against sup- 
position, and all he finally stipulated for, while the 
Colonel was writing out a formal I. 0. U. upon a leaf 
of his pocketbook, was the advance of a small sum on 
account. 

“ I rely implicitly upon your honour and punctual- 
ity, sir,” said he. I will meet you here, this day week, 
to receive the amount owing to me and to hear, I trust, 
that I have been in some degree avenged. In the mean- 
time, I shall have to pay my score at the village ale- 
house, and I regret to say that I am almost penniless. 


THE COLONEL GIVES BATTLE. 


333 


Consequently, any spare cash that you may have about 


The Colonel turned out his waistcoat pocket, which 
was found to contain a trifle over flve pounds. A few 
minutes later he was marching back towards the great 
house, with the happy conviction that one who had 
threatened to bring ruin upon it was himself upon the 
verge of being ruined. Three hundred and flfty pounds 
is no such insigniflcant sum for a half -pay Colonel to 
lay out upon a handful of love-letters; but “ Dear me! ” 
said he to himself, “ what does it matter? In a few 
years the money would have gone to Marietta, who 
will never miss it, and upon my word I don’t know how 
it could have been employed more advantageously for 
her than it is going to be. Mr. Strahan, my friend, our 
truce has expired! ” 


CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE COLONEL GIVES BATTLE. 

Steahan, after parting with Colonel Vigne in the 
plantation, as related, stepped briskly forward to catch 
up his friends. He had no sort of fear of losing the 
friendship of these ladies and gentlemen through action 
on the part of his irate, but impotent enemy; he could 
even afford to laugh good-humouredly and compassion- 
ately at the recollection of the latter’s valedictory words. 

“ So you can’t be frightened into doing nothing, 
eh? ” he muttered. “ Well, you are a plucky old gentle- 
man, and it’s only fair to admit that you aren’t very 
easily frightened. But you will do nothing, all the 
same, for the simple reason that there is nothing for 
you to do. The question which isn’t a bit simple is 
what I am going to do, and I’ll be hanged if I can 


334 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


answer it! All I know is that that interrupted con- 
versation will have to he resumed.” 

His conversation with Marietta had, in truth, been 
broken off at a point which rendered its resumption im- 
perative and inevitable. If she had not actually con- 
fessed that she loved him, she had allowed him to speak 
as only an admitted lover could have spoken, and his 
passion (which was real and strong) had become so in- 
flamed that it was all he could do to lend an ear to the 
whispered counsels of prudence. Prudence, at any rate, 
could no longer dissuade him from running risks. As 
for running away, with Lady Middlewood to hear him 
company, he really did not think that such extreme 
measures were likely to become obligatory upon him, 
and it would be time enough to oppose them when they 
were suggested — as very possibly they would he. 

So, although he was unable immediately to secure 
his hostess’s private attention, he found an opportunity 
of doing this after dinner, when he drew near to her 
and said, in a low voice, I must see you alone. Give 
me a time and place.” 

She looked troubled and surveyed him with large 
startled eyes How can she he so foolish as to look like 
that in a room full of people! ” he wondered, with mo- 
mentary irritation); hut she did not dispute his right 
to demand an appointment. 

I will walk out towards the moor soon after lunch- 
eon to-morrow,” she answered hurriedly. Perhaps 
you might give up shooting early in the day. But 
please don’t think ” 

I think nothing,” he returned, with a smile, and 
I don’t want to think anything. I want to Icnow. Will 
you tell me what I want to know to-morrow after- 
noon?” 

She nodded hastily and moved away, being uncom- 
fortably conscious of her father’s scrutiny. She would 
have been still more uncomfortable had she been aware 
that Colonel Vigne had not only taken note of the above 
brief interchange of words hut had divined their im- 


THE COLONEL GIVES BATTLE. 


335 


port. It was, indeed, tolerably evident to one whose 
suspicions were so fully aroused that Marietta and Stra- 
han would have had either more or less to say to one 
another if they had not been arranging a future inter- 
view. 

The Colonel, therefore, kept his eyes and ears open, 
and it did not surprise him to hear Strahan remark 
casually at breakfast the next morning, “ I shall have to 
be satisfied with half a day’s shooting, I’m afraid; I 
have a horrid lot of letters to write and post before 
dinner.” 

Yes, my fine fellow,” thought the old gentleman; 
and you’ll have a particularly horrid lot of letters to 
read too! Or rather, you’ll have to hear them read; 
because I doubt whether it would be safe to place them 
in your hands.” 

To prevent Marietta from keeping her appointment 
was a task of no great difficulty. As the Colonel had 
anticipated, she mentioned, shortly after luncheon, that 
she was going out for a walk, and he at once offered 
to accompany her. To this suggestion she demurred, 
alleging that he would tire himself out, tramping up 
hill in such a hot sun; whereupon he returned cheer- 
fully: 

Not a bit of it, my dear; old as I am, I’m game 
to stand as much fatigue as you can. Besides, I meant, 
anyhow, to go out and meet Mr. Strahan, to whom I 
have a few words to say upon a matter of business.” 

Marietta understood and said no more. Nothing 
could be less probable than that her father had business 
matters to discuss with Mr. Strahan, nor could anything 
be more certain than that he would persist in fulfilling 
his expressed intention. At the bottom of her heart 
she was almost grateful to him for compelling her to 
postpone an encounter of which she could but dimly 
forecast the results. It is needless to add that the Colo- 
nel was not embarrassed by her company when he sallied 
forth on the road to victory; by that time she had dis- 
covered that the weather was unsuitable for exertion and 


336 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


that a hammock beneath one of the spreading cedars on 
the lawn would satisfy her immediate desires. 

The Colonel went his way with a light step and a 
light heart. Success in the enterprise which he had 
taken in hand was assured. Strahan, it was true, held 
a trump card in his knowledge of Marietta's illegiti- 
macy. “ But 1 ” reflected the old gentleman exultantly, 
“have a whole handful of trumps. It wonT help him 
much to bring disgrace upon us after he himself has 
been so disgraced that he will be practically forced to 
give up his present position.^^ 

To set against that, there was the obvious considera- 
tion that a ruined man could have no motive for reti- 
cence, and indeed it was only because he had realised 
that fact that Colonel Vigne was now about to hold 
parley with the enemy. It would, of course, have been 
simpler, and even safer, to exhibit the incriminating 
documents to Lionel and others; hut, for the reason 
above specifled, this plan was inadmissible, and Mr. 
Brydon would have to he satisfled with something short 
of complete and public revenge. 

“ Now, I don’t suppose,” said the Colonel to him- 
self, “that he will give in without showing flght. It 
will he necessary to convince him that he would risk 
considerably more by refusing to come to terms than 
we should by telling him to do his worst, and it may 
even he necessary to stand on one’s guard against physi- 
cal violence; for, after all, I am an old fellow, and this 
is a thinly peopled part of the world. Well, if he tries 
that game, I flatter myself he will And that I hold 
a strongish argument in my hand.” 

The Colonel shook his walking-stick, which was in 
truth a murderous weapon, despite its inocuous aspect; 
for it was heavily loaded at the head and as supple as a 
life-preserver. He imagined himself breaking an as- 
sailant’s arm with it, and almost wished that the luxury 
of being assaulted might he in store for him. That, 
however, was not a very probable contingency, nor, upon 
the whole, could it be deemed a desirable one. For a 


THE COLONEL GIVES BATTLE. 


337 


duel plenty of plausible explanations can always be al- 
leged; but a personal fracas seldom redounds to the 
credit of those concerned therein. 

It was in the larch copse where Strahan had achieved 
his triumph on the previous day, and where the Colonel 
had subsequently secured means of rendering that tri- 
umph nugatory, that the two antagonists came face to 
face. The face of the younger man, who was slowly 
descending the slope, with his gun over his shoulder, 
wore a grave and thoughtful expression, which changed 
to one of displeased interrogation when he recognised 
the intruder upon his solitude; that of the elder was 
radiant with the joy of approaching battle. 

It is a fine afternoon for a walk, is it not, Mr. 
Strahan? he began. “With your permission, I will 
bear you company for a short distance.^^ 

Strahan frowned. He perceived, of course, that his 
appointment with Marietta had been discovered and 
that this irrepressible old nuisance had determined to 
frustrate it. “ May I ask,^^ he inquired, “ whether you 
came out in order to meet me ? ” 

The ColoneTs head was bowed in affable assent. 
“ Perhaps you did not expect me to meet you? Perhaps 
you expected somebody else to meet you?’^ he sug- 
gested. 

Strahan stood still and looked straight into the blue 
eyes which met his. “ Colonel Vigne,” said he, “ I beg 
to warn you that it is possible to get to the end of my 
patience. I certainly did not expect to meet you, and 
whether I expected to meet anybody else or not is my 
own affair. Please, be so good as to continue your walk 
and allow me to continue mine. After what passed be- 
tween us yesterday, we really can have nothing further 
to say to one another.’^ 

“ You forget,” returned the Colonel pleasantly, 
“ that when we parted yesterday I undertook to let you 
have an answer to certain representations of yours. I 
am now ready with my answer, which is very much at 
your service. You can spare me a quarter of an hour 


338 


MAEIETTA’S MAERIAGE. 


or twenty minutes, I dare say; in snch weather as this 
one doesn^t want to hurry. Indeed, my daughter, who 
spoke of taking a walk after luncheon, decided that it 
was too hot to do anything hut sit in the garden, and I 
should probably have remained with her if I had not 
heard you mention that you would be returning early.” 

Then,” observed Strahan, who did not relish the 
idea that he had been made a fool of either by Colonel 
Vigne or by Lady Middlewood, “ you must have heard 
me mention that I had letters to write. Will you he so 
good as to make any statement that you may have to 
make without further loss of time?” 

“ I will,” the Colonel replied. “ The statement that 
I have to make is briefly this. The unfortunate girl 
Maggie Field, who drowned herself to escape the con- 
sequences of her shame during your last term at Ox- 
ford, was betrayed and ruined by you; you allowed or 
encouraged another undergraduate to act in such a way 
that he was assumed to he the guilty person and that 
you got off scot-free; I propose — in the event of your 
declining the conditions which I shall offer you — to 
make this known to my son-in-law and to his friends; 
and I think, Mr. Strahan, that neither your reputation 
nor your prospects of advancement in life will be likely 
to survive that disclosure.” 

^'Now, my dear sir,” said Strahan, in accents of 
compassionate remonstrance, what can you possibly 
expect to gain by casting back to that foolish old men- 
ace and that mendacious old story? I hoped I had con- 
vinced you in London of the absurdity of attempting 
to intimidate me in that way.” 

'' I admit,” answered the Colonel, that the attempt 
was absurd then; it is not so absurd now that I am 
backed up by proofs in your own handwriting. You 
should have known better than to enter into correspond- 
ence with your victim. Fortunately for me, however, 
you did not know better, and still more fortunately, the 
correspondence has come into my possession. Shall I 
read you a few extracts from it?” 


THE COLONEL GIVES BATTLE. 


339 


Without waiting for a reply, he took the bundle 
of letters from his pocket, selected two or three of them 
for withdrawal from their envelopes and proceeded to 
read aloud passages which placed the relations between 
their recipient and their writer beyond a doubt. You 
will perceive,^^ he remarked, in conclusion, “ that I can 
establish the truth of my statement.” 

I perceive,” answered Strahan quietly, “ that you 
think so. How and where did you procure those let- 
ters? ” 

Yours,” observed the Colonel, is a very natural 
curiosity; hut you must excuse me. I do not feel called 
upon to gratify it.” 

As you please. I was only wondering whether the 
forgery was a skilful one or not.” 

Mr. Strahan,” said the Colonel, you know very 
well that these letters are not forgeries. It seems to 
me that we shall save time by admitting facts and then 
considering, as men of the world, how the facts affect 
our respective positions. You know something about 
me which I do not wish my daughter or those connected 
with her to hear; I know something about you which, 
if divulged, would get you into such trouble that it 
would to all intents and purposes abolish you. Very 
well, you may say, then let us cry quits. But that won’t 
satisfy me; and if you will think for a moment, you 
will see that you are far more in my power than I am 
in yours. I can, therefore, only consent to keep silence 
upon the condition that you leave this house to-morrow 
and England within a month. That, I should imagine, 
is manageable for a man who can at any moment allege 
that he has been summoned to Australia; if not, you 
will have to make it so. After all, you may consider 
yourself lucky; for if these letters had fallen into any 
hands but mine, you would scarcely have escaped ex- 
posure.” 

Strahan’s ironically smiling countenance betrayed 
no sign of his inward fury and perplexity. It was an 
indisputable fact that this exasperating old marplot had. 


340 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


by some means or other, contrived to gain possession of 
evidence which might be used against him with deadly 
effect, and he was almost disposed to come to terms. 
Mot, indeed, to such terms as Colonel Vigne offered — 
for it would in no way suit him to leave England — but 
to others which might perhaps be found equally ac- 
ceptable. The sacrifice of a woman^s love would be but 
a trilling matter in comparison with the relinquishment 
of his ambitious schemes and dreams. Nevertheless, he 
hated to be beaten, and was not prepared to acknowl- 
edge himself beaten yet. So his curt rejoinder was: 

J ust let me look at those precious papers of yours, 
will you? ” 

The Colonel laughed and fell back a step. No, 
my dear sir,” he replied; those papers are a little too 
precious to Idc allowed out of my hands into yours. You 
won’t get them from me, I can assure you, by anything 
short of main force.” 

Possibly this rather unwise speech suggested tempta- 
tion to a man who was as active and as muscular as a 
cat. Be that as it may, the poor Colonel’s wrist was 
instantly gripped, his arm was twisted with a violence 
which wrung an involuntary cry of pain from him, and 
the letters fell from his powerless fingers. But the 
right hand which held his walking-stick was free, and 
with it he aimed a blow at his assailant which Strahan 
ducked like lightning to avoid. The result of this was 
that he himself very nearly fell headlong to the ground, 
and that in another moment he had been deprived of 
his weapon. 

^'Really, Colonel Vigne,” said Strahan, I am ex- 
tremely sorry to have had to attack a man of your years, 
but it is quite essential that I should be able to examine 
these forgeries, and for the present I must take the 
liberty of retaining them. Pray, don’t excite yourself 
—oh, no! you won’t get hold of the gun, nor of your 
stick either until you have cooled down. Damn it, 
man! stand off, will you! Do you want me to knock you 
down? ” 


THE COLONEL GIVES BATTLE. 


341 


For the Colonel, purple with passion, had flung him- 
self upon his enemy, whom he had caught by the throat, 
and so tenacious was his clutch that for a few seconds 
Strahan was in no small danger of being choked. Old 
though he now was. Colonel Vigne had once been a 
powerful man; at such close quarters it was impossible 
to knock him down, and his weight rendered him for 
the moment a somewhat awkward customer. But the 
struggle was a short one. Strahan’s knee was driven 
against the otheFs breastbone with a force which de- 
prived him alike of breath and strength, and he fell 
backward, gasping and panting. 

Strahan also was panting. You old lunatic! he 
muttered, as he stooped to pick up the gun and the 
stick which he had allowed to drop, I shall have to 
kill you before I have done with you! ” 

“ You will, sir! ” returned the Colonel hoarsely; 
‘^you may take your oath of that! ” 

He had got his breath back, and his renewed on- 
slaught was made with such rapidity and determination 
that it was really necessary to bring him to his senses — 
or to deprive him of them. The latter was the result 
of the hasty stroke which Strahan aimed at the head 
of the old man, whose hat had fallen off. It was a 
hasty stroke and also a heavier one than had been in- 
tended by the striker, who did not realise until too 
late what a formidable instrument the stick which he 
had seized was. 

The Colonel stopped as if he had been shot, swayed 
for a moment like a drunken man, and then fell heavily 
upon his face, the blood flowing fast through his gray 
hair. Strahan dropped at once upon his knees beside the 
unconscious man, whose collar he loosened and whose 
heart, to his immense relief, he found to be still beating. 

By George!” he muttered, 1 was afraid I had 
taken him at his word and made an end of him! It’s 
a bad job, anyhow; for how the deuce this is to be ac- 
counted for and explained away is more than I can 
imagine! ” 


342 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


The situation was, without doubt, very serious as it 
stood; yet it might, from one moment to another, be- 
come infinitely more so. Of this Strahan was made 
aware by unmistakable signs, and before he had de- 
cided what to do, or whether anything could be done, 
the worst had happened. The old man, whose face he 
was anxiously watching, drew a long breath and shud- 
dered from head to foot; then his jaw fell, and a film 
came over his upturned eyeballs. 

“ Good God! ” cried Strahan, starting to his feet, 
what infernal luck! ” 

The exclamation was characteristic enough, and even 
more characteristic were the terms in which he pro- 
ceeded to apostrophise himself. “ Don’t lose your head! 
It’s a question now of saving your neck, and there’s no 
time to spare. Everything will depend upon your keep- 
ing your wits about you for the next hour or two.” 


CHAPTER XXXVII. 

PRESENCE OF MIND. 

It is in moments of sudden emergency that the dif- 
ference between a big man and a little one becomes 
apparent, and that Strahan retained command of all his 
faculties under circumstances which might well have 
stupefied him proved him, no doubt, to be one of the 
capable members of our race. It is really a very horri- 
ble thing to have committed murder, and even deliberate 
murderers, as the records of criminal cases abundantly 
testify, are apt to overlook details, the discovery of 
which ends by bringing them to the gallows. The others 
— those who, like Strahan, are guiltless of having ever 
intended to take a fellow creature’s life — almost invari- 
ably betray themselves. But in the instance of this 


PRESENCE OF MIND. 


343 


man the instinct of self-preservation was seconded by a 
brain so cool and so clear that he dismissed no aspect 
of the case from him, save that which it was imperative 
upon him to postpone. Regret, remorse, and all such 
emotions might, and indeed must, he deferred until he 
should have leisure to indulge in them; for the time 
being, what he had to do was to clear himself of any 
possible suspicion of having been concerned in the death 
of Lady Middlewood’s father. 

First of all, he satisfied himself that there were no 
stains of blood upon his hands or his clothes. Had 
there been any, it would not have been very difficult to 
account for them; still it was just as well that there 
were none. Then he examined very carefully the scene 
of the struggle and ascertained that the hard ground 
was free from trace of footprints. The weather had for 
some time past been so dry, and the grass was so short 
that this danger did not exist. His next step was to 
pick up the stick with which the fatal blow had been 
struck, and to which some coagulated blood and a few 
gray hairs adhered. He dropped it again beside the 
body, sa5fing to hihiself: — 

“ That tells nothing, except what one wants to be 
told.^^ 

So far, then, there was no evidence against him, and 
his only fear was that his victim’s fingers might have 
left red marks upon his throat. Upon that point, in 
the absence of a looking-glass, it was impossible to 
avoid misgivings; but as, in any case, he could not have 
concealed such marks, it was a waste of time to think 
about them. There remained the probability of Colo- 
nel Vigne’s having told his daughter whither he was 
bound. He had alleged, to be sure, that she had found 
it too hot to go out for a walk; but that statement 
seemed to lack verisimilitude, and had been put forward, 
moreover, in mocking accents which had implied that 
the speaker did not mean it to be accepted literally. 
The chances were that Marietta had been prevented 
from keeping her appointment by her father, who 


344 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


must somehow have become aware of it, and had 
probably offered to be the bearer of her excuses. That 
might be serious — yet it could scarcely be supposed 
that any resultant altercation could have ended so 
tragically. 

Strahan looked at his watch. 

“ There isnT much more time/’ he murmured; I 
may be called upon to account for every minute that 
has elapsed since I left those fellows. Now, what about 
motives? Shall I take his money and his watch? Yes; 
upon the whole, I had better — though it’s a risk. This 
is a lonely spot, and it isn’t inconceivable that he might 
have encountered some loafing tramp.” 

The rifling of the corpse was a somewhat ghastly 
task; but Strahan’s nerves were strong, and he did not 
forget to search the Colonel’s pockets for any stray 
letters, in addition to those of which he had already pos- 
sessed himself. This being accomplished, he picked up 
his gun, and started at a round trot down the hill to- 
wards Middlewood. Just before emerging from the 
copse he flung the dead man’s watch and chain away 
into the undergrowth. It was better to do that, he 
thought, than to run the chance of being detected with 
such damning evidence upon his person; besides which, 
the discovery of the watch, which was sure to ensue, 
could be made to fit in well enough with the story 
which he meant to tell. 

That simple story was quite ready for narration by 
the time that he came within sight of the great house, 
and he only did what anybody else would have done in 
his place by making for the stable-yard instead of the 
principal entrance. He found, as he had expected, sev- 
eral helpers standing about in the yard, and one of 
them, in response to his breathless request, immedi- 
ately summoned the stud-groom. 

want to speak to you,” Strahan said, as soon 
as the burly little man appeared. A shocking thing 
has happened. Colonel Vigne has been murdered. I 
found him lying stone-dead in the plantation on my 


PRESENCE OF MIND. 


345 


way down from the moor. As far as I could judge, his 
skull has been fractured by a life-preserver.’’ 

“ Good Gawd! ” ejaculated the stud-groom. What! 
— in broad daylight?” 

Well — evidently. But what we must do now is 
to send some men to carry him home, and to take care 
that Lady Middlewood does not hear what has hap- 
pened. Of course it will he a fearful shock to her, and 
really I don’t feel quite equal to telling her the news. 
Do you know what time his lordship is expected back? ” 

“ There was a brake ordered to meet his lordship 
and the other gentlemen on the Chelton side of the 
moor in about three-quarters of an hour, sir,” answered 
the man. We was just going to send it out.” 

“ Ah — well, perhaps the best plan will be for me 
to go in it,” said Strahan, and I can give information 
to the police on the way. Of course that ought to be 
done at once. Meanwhile, you had better send four 
men with a hurdle up to the plantation, and tell them 
to wait there, without disturbing anything, until a po- 
liceman comes. Sometimes, you know, in cases of mur- 
der, a most important clue is lost through the body hav- 
ing been displaced, or the ground trampled upon.” 

Just so, sir,” agreed the stud-groom, with a look 
of respectful admiration. 

He remarked to one of his subordinates, after the 
brake had been brought out and driven away, with its 
pale, but composed occupant, that that there Mr. Stra- 
han was a gentleman as had a head upon his shoulders; 
and, indeed, it must be confessed that the compliment 
was not undeserved. 

The weak point of the case,” mused Strahan, while 
he was being driven across the park, “ is that the apoc- 
ryphal criminal who will be searched for far and wide 
during the next few days, may almost be proved to be 
apocryphal. The difficulty of escaping unnoticed from 
a neighbourhood where there are so few railway sta- 
tions, and so very few passengers, would approach im- 
possibility. However, that can’t be helped; I believe 


346 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


I have taken every precaution that could be taken to 
insure my own safety. But I wish I knew what my 
throat looks like! ” 

He pulled up the soft stock which he was wearing 
as high as it would go, and sat with his head bent for- 
ward. It was a natural attitude for one who had just 
passed through a startling and distressing experience to 
assume, and he maintained it while conversing with the 
village constable, whom, as luck would have it, he over- 
took on the road. He maintained it also when, on reach- 
ing his destination, he found the sportsmen sitting on 
the turf by the wayside. He was greeted with shouts 
of surprised interrogation; but to these he paid no heed. 
Descending hastily, he drew Lionel aside, and said: 

Old man, I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news; 
but I thought the kindest thing I could do, for Lady 
Middlewood’s sake, was to come and meet you, so as 
to give you a little time to think about how this is to 
be broken to her.” 

His tale was soon told, and Lionel, though greatly 
distressed, as well as enraged against the unknown per- 
petrator of so foul a crime, did not lose his presence 
of mind. He thanked his friend heartily, saying: 

“ You have done everything that could possibly be 
done. It only remains to telegraph to all the nearest 
stations on the line; in that way we can hardly fail 
to catch the fellow. One thing I think I can say for 
certain — he must have been a stranger in these parts; 
and that should make it easy to identify him.” 

I’ll see to that,” answered Strahan; I don’t mind 
the walk, and you had better not go out of your way. 
You ought to get home as quickly as possible.” 

Will you, like a good fellow? I understand what 
you mean; it would be an awful business if poor Mari- 
etta were to see, without any warning, what there is 
some danger of her seeing. How I am to tell her that 
her father has been killed God only knows! Poor, dear 
old chap! Well, there’s no use in talking about it.” 

He jumped into the brake and was soon out of sight. 


PRESENCE OF MIND. 


347 


It was, of course, most important that he should reach 
home in advance of a certain mournful procession which 
Marietta might, by ill fortune, descry from the garden, 
and Strahan had given him to understand that he could 
^ accomplish this if he made haste. On the way he in- 
formed his companions of the catastrophe which had 
occurred, begging them to excuse him if he should fail 
to show himself at dinner. Lady Middlewood, nat- 
urall}^, would he unable to appear. And as for me,” 
he added, “ I may have to take the evening train to 
London, so as to look them up at Scotland Yard. It 
won^t do to let the grass grow under our feet.” 

He was far more likely to be wanted at home than 
in Scotland Yard; hut, being by nature a man of action, 
his impulse was to do something. Perhaps, too, he 
wished to think as little as might he about the first 
and most painful duty which lay before him. Strahan 
had considerately suggested that he should profit by the 
interval of time granted to him to think about it; hut 
how could the shock of such an announcement be soft- 
ened? There is, in truth, no known method of break- 
ing evil tidings gently, and probably the most merciful 
plan is to blurt out the truth in a few words. Such, at 
all events, was the plan adopted by Lionel when he 
found his wife reposing in her hammock under the cedar 
tree, with a novel in her hand and one foot swinging 
lazily just off the ground. His unwonted display of 
affection in bending over her to kiss her forehead and 
the gravity of the accents in which he exhorted her to 
be brave caused her at once to start up into a sitting 
posture. 

Something horrible has happened! ” she cried. 

Don't look at me like that — tell me instantly! Is it 
Bob?” 

^^No,” answered Lionel; ^^it isn't Bob.” 

^^Then,” she exclaimed, ^^it is my father! He is 
dead! ” 

She expected to hear of apoplexy. She had noticed 
of late that the old man's strength was not equal to 
23 


348 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


the demands which he habitually made upon it, and an 
uphill walk under so hot a sun might easily have proved 
too much for him. But when she was told that his had 
been a violent death, a terrible fear seized her which 
drove all the blood hack to her heart. He had started, 
she knew, with the intention of meeting one towards 
whom he was not too favourably disposed, and that the 
two men must have met seemed certain. She could 
scarcely force herself to gasp out, Who did it?” 

We cannot imagine,” her husband answered. 

Strahan, who found him and gave the alarm, says he 
searched the copse, but could discover no trace of the 
murderer. One can only suppose that robbery was the 
motive and that the blow was not intended to be fatal.” 

Marietta’s fervent ejaculation of “ Thank God ! ” 
which Lionel remembered in after days, puzzled him a 
little at the time; but he assumed that she had not all 
her wits about her. 

We shall catch the scoundrel, though,” he added, 
encouragingly; I haven’t a doubt of that. His best 
chance, as he probably knows, is to make for Man- 
chester, and it will he odd if we can’t manage to stop 
that earth. Oh, we shall catch him! ” 

But catching him and hanging him would not bring 
poor old Colonel Vigne back to life. This was, in effect, 
what Marietta said through her tears, which had begun 
to flow fast. She had loved her father, who had always 
been indulgent and had seemed, somehow, to under- 
stand her better than anybody else did, and now that 
a sudden load of terror had been removed from her 
mind, she had leisure to become inconsolable. Lionel 
consoled her to the best of his ability — which was not 
saying very much. If her father had understood her, 
her husband most assuredly did not. For so long she 
had repelled him, for so long she had responded coldly 
to any advance on his part, that his pride had ended 
by acquiescing in an estrangement which she appeared 
to desire, and even now he could find nothing hut com- 
monplaces with which to meet her lamentations. 


PRESENCE OF MIND. 


349 


“ Where is Mr. Strahan ? ’’ she asked at last. “ I 
must see him! He will tell me everything, and he, 1 
am sure, will be really sorry for me.” 

“ He has gone to send some telegrams,” answered 
Lionel, who could not, under the circumstances, resent 
this rather unkind implication; but he ought to be 
here soon. Of course you shall see him, if you wish.” 

Strahan at that moment had no great wish to see 
her. From his mind also the oppression of fear and 
anxiety had been partially lifted, and he, too, was free 
to indulge in regrets which were very sincere. Because 
he had thought, and had been forced to think, of him- 
self first, it did not follow that he was more callous than 
his neighbours; and, as a matter of fact, he was grieved 
to the heart to think that his had been the hand to 
slay Marietta’s father. To he sure, she would never 
know (or he hoped she never would) that he had been 
guilty of that crime; yet there are moments when even 
the coolest and most selfish of us must realise that what 
signifies is not so much what others know about us as 
what we know about ourselves, and Strahan’s earnest 
desire was to escape the ordeal of an immediate inter- 
view with Lady Middlewood. 

“ Of course,” said he to himself, “ I am not morally 
guilty of murder; for heaven knows I had no intention 
of hurting the unfortunate old fellow, much less of kill- 
ing him, and nobody has any business to die of a mere 
tap on the head with a walking-stick. Still it remains 
a fact that I did kill him, and it is even on the cards 
that she may have suspicions of me. I won’t meet her 
until to-morrow if I can possibly help it.” 

He did not, therefore, hurry hack to Middlewood — 
nor, had he been so minded, could he have hurried; 
for he deemed it wise to destroy, without further loss 
of time, the letters which he had secured, and this 
proved a long business. He had to burn them one by 
one, scattering the black fragments to the winds, and 
there were a good many of them. The collection in 
fact included, to the best of his belief and memory. 


350 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


every scrap of writing that he had ever addressed to 
Maggie Field, and it gave him a queer sensation to re- 
flect that these sheets of note-paper which he was now 
carefully annihilating had caused two deaths. In both 
cases the victim had been a good deal more to blame 
than the executioner. For choice, one would rather not 
be an executioner; but Strahan could not feel much re- 
morse upon the subject of Maggie Field, whom no man 
in his senses would have consented to marry. He had 
given her excellent advice; he had even given her such 
money as he had been able to spare; was it his fault 
that she had spurned the one and returned the other 
before committing the rash act which had so nearly 
brought about the ruin of her lover? 

“ As for Colonel Vigne,^’ he continued, “ I believe 
the poor old gentleman must have died in a fit; the 
blow in itself could hardly have been sufficient to cause 
death. By the way, I wonder how on earth he came 
to be in possession of these letters! I would have given 
a good price for them at one time; but as they were not 
produced it seemed evident that they must either have 
been destroyed by Maggie or retained by Bessie — who 
was not likely to betray me, poor soul! Now, I can’t 
suppose that the Colonel sought out Bessie, or that she 
would have given up the letters to him if he had. Con- 
sequently, we have the probable existence of an inter- 
mediary, or of several intermediaries — which may prove 
devilish awkward! Upon the whole one is by no means 
out of the wood yet, although it is something to have 
abolished documentary evidence.” 

The abolition of documentary evidence being com- 
pleted, he made for the house at a brisk pace, stopping 
to wash his hands, which had been blackened by his 
task, in a pool. It was, as he perceived, quite within 
the bounds of possibility that he might soon be ar- 
rested, and it behoved him to neglect no precaution, 
however trifling. 

On his arrival, the butler, who appeared to have been 
waiting for him, informed him, in a hushed voice, that 


“SOME PERSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN.” S51 


the body had been brought in. The pockets rifled, 
sir, but the watch and chain picked up only a few yards 
off in the brushwood, which looks as if them villains 
had been disturbed; and the doctor, as was sent for by 
his lordship’s orders, he thinks as life couldn’t have 
been extinct but a very short time when you found the 
poor gentleman.” 

You don’t say so! ” exclaimed Strahan, with much 
apparent concern. Well, there wasn’t a sign or a 
sound of anybody in the neighbourhood that I could 
detect. I wish I had searched more carefully; but of 
course my first impulse was to run down here and give 
the alarm.” 

Just so, sir. But his lordship is confident that 
justice will be done; and her ladyship, if you please, 
sir, sent word that she would like to speak to you as soon 
as you came in.” 

So that bad quarter of an hour, it seemed, was not 
to be avoided. 


CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

^^SOME PEKSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN.” 

Strahan was shown into the room which had been 
fitted up as a boudoir for Lady Middlewood, and he 
found her seated at her writing-table — though she was 
not writing, nor had she, apparently, been so occupied. 
She raised her head, as he entered, from the clasped 
hands upon which it had been resting and stared va- 
cantly at him for a moment. Then she said: 

“ Oh, yes, I remember; I asked them to let me see 
you.” 

I did not think,” he replied, with perfectly genu- 
ine sympathy and regret, ^Uhat we should meet like 
this to-day.” 


352 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


" No,” agreed Marietta, in slow, bewildered accents, 
you expected something quite different, of course. So 
did I. It all seems such a long time ago! ” 

She resumed, after a short pause, The reason why 
I wanted to see you was that I thought you might per- 
haps he able to tell me a little more than Lionel could, 
or did. Anyhow, I should like to hear the whole story 
from your own lips, if you don’t mind.” 

I am afraid,” answered Strahan, that I can only 
repeat to you what I told him. I am absolutely in the 
dark as to who committed the crime, if that is what you 
are thinking of; although I had Just heard that his 
pockets were found empty, which seems to point to 
robbery as the motive. All I can say is that as soon as 
I had recovered a little from the shock of discovering 
your poor father’s body, and had convinced myself that 
he was really dead, I made a hasty examination of the 
wood without coming upon the trace of another human 
being. The truth was that, as 3^011 may imagine, my 
first thought was for you, and I was in terror lest at 
any moment you might appear. I had been anticipat- 
ing your appearance, you see.” 

She nodded and sighed. “ You think, then, that he 
was killed — stupidly and vulgarly. Just for the sake of 
any valuables that he might have upon him — by some 
lurking poacher or tramp ? ” 

I can imagine nothing else; though it sounds im- 
probable. He had no enemy in this neighbourhood, I 
suppose? ” 

He had none anywhere that I know of. Unless 
you could be counted as an enemy of his. He may have 
I'egarded you — I almost think that he did regard you 
ns such; and so, when Lionel told me what had hap- 
]>ened, I was frightened for a minute. It occurred to 


know,” interrupted Strahan boldly; “I had a 
presentiment that that ghastly idea would occur to you. 
j lut no idea, if you think of it for a moment, could well 
be more extravagant. I am what you please — and you 


“SOME PEKSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN.” 353 


have called me by some hard names before now — but I 
am scarcely the man to commit a wanton, purposeless 
murder. And even if I were, the very last person in 
the world, next to yourself, whom I should have been 
likely to select as my victim would have been the one 
to whom I believe you were more attached than to any- 
body else.” 

Marietta smiled faintly. I imagined a quarrel and 
an exchange of blows,” she answered. He was hot- 
tempered and he had many quarrels ^en he was 
younger, I believe. But it was only for &'^oment that 
I felt frightened; I was sure that, whatever he might 
have said or done, you would keep cool. Besides, it was 
inconceivable that you would strike a man of his age.” 

“ I should hope so! ” 

Yes; and it was not because I had the faintest 
shadow of a misgiving that I sent for you. It was only 
because, as I said just now, I wanted you to give me 
every detail that you could, and also ” — she broke off 
to swallow down her tears — “ and also because I knew 
you would sympathise with me. For indeed it is quite 
true that I cared more for my father than I do for any- 
body else.” 

Strahan proved equal to the task imposed upon him; 
it would not have been easy to impose upon him any 
task to which he would have shown himself unequal, 
and if this was in many respects a gruesome and re- 
pulsive one, all the more remarkable were his skill and 
courage in facing it. He furnished Marietta with men- 
dacious details; he assured her, both verbally and by 
other methods, of his fullest and truest sympathy; he 
even went so far as to imply that, although she might 
love nobody as she had loved her father, there was one 
still living who, at all events, loved her more passion- 
ately than the dead man could possibly have done. 

But to such hints she appeared quite deaf and blind 
— so deaf and blind that he had much ado to restrain 
himself from becoming more explicit. He was not in- 
sensible to the fact that a vast gulf, a gulf more vast 


354 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


and more impassable than the mere circumstance of her 
being a married woman could ever have created, now 
yawned between them; yet he had not once, in all the 
course of their acquaintanceship, loved her and longed 
for her as he did at that moment. When she dismissed 
him, he raised her hand, which was limp and cold, to 
his lips, and, glancing up, he saw a curious expression 
in her swimming eyes which he was unable to interpret. 
Was it displeasure or dislike or merely wonder? He 
could not tell, and her voice did not enlighten him, as 
she said, “ Thank you. Good-bye.” 

She had the air of taking leave of him; although 
she must have been aware that he could not quit the 
house, as the other guests were doubtless about to do, 
seeing that his evidence would be needed at one inquiry, 
if not at more than one, prescribed by the law of the 
land. Possibly she wished him to understand that a 
certain chapter in her life had been finally closed by this 
tragedy. If so, he could not do better than take her at 
her 'word and liberate himself without discredit from an 
entanglement which had now become doubly compli- 
cated and embarrassing. He made that reflection, recog- 
nised its wisdom, muttered a curse, and ended by laugh- 
ing rather dismally. 

To think that any woman on earth should have 
the power to make me hesitate at such a parting of the 
ways! So much for one’s strong will and one’s tolerably 
unimpaired faculty for seeing things as they are! How- 
ever, when it comes to the actual point, I shall take 
the right road and turn my back upon her. As we are 
not quite at that point yet I may enjoy the luxury of 
indecision a little longer.” 

But that was only a way of speaking; for to him in- 
decision could not be a luxury. Nor, perhaps, would 
he have been able to leave a crucial question open dur- 
ing the days that followed had the demand upon his 
time and his wits with regard to other matters been 
less urgent. His time was placed entirely at the dis- 
posal of Lord Middle wood, the county constabulary, 


“SOME PERSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN.” 355 


and a London detective; his wits were successfully de- 
voted to averting suspicions which, oddly enough, were 
entertained by nobody. His evidence at the inquest 
was given in so clear and straightforward a manner, and 
his story so plainly bore the impress of truth that even 
the detective, who was a good deal vexed at being able 
to detect nothing, was forced reluctantly to accord the 
gentleman a tacit acquittal. There was absolutely no 
evidence to submit to the jury beyond the hare facts 
that the deceased had evidently been killed by a blow 
from his own stick, and that he had been despoiled of 
his watch and his money; so a verdict of wilful murder 
was returned against some person or persons unknown,- 
and the guardians 0:^ law and order could but scratch 
their perplexed heads. 

Then for a short time it seemed as if an important 
clue had been secured. The landlord of the village 
public-house came forward to state that a party by the 
name of Brown,’^ who had been lodging under his roof 
for a week or more, had left somewhat suddenly on the 
very evening of the murder without stating whither 
he was bound. On being soundly rated for having with- 
held this information, the man replied that nobody 
could ever have suppose such a poor, feeble creature 
as Brown to he capable of murder. Moreover, he him- 
self had been absent for several days on business, and 
did not even know of the lodger’s departure until his 
missus had mentioned it casual-like. Upon the whole, 
he opined that if anybody ought to he badgered about 
the matter it was his missus, not he. His missus was 
accordingly badgered, and responded by numerous con- 
tradictory assertions. These, when sifted, appeared to 
show that the mysterious Brown had been a person of 
sadly intemperate habits and deplorable health. Ac- 
cording to the landlady, he had scarcely been sober at 
all during his sojourn, and had spent nearly the whole 
of his time lying flat upon his hack on his bed. Other- 
wise what she might term ’armless. Really could not say 
whether he had been in the house or out of it on the 


356 


MARIETTA'S MARRIAGE. 


afternoon named — not if she was to be put upon her 
oath. Was inclined to believe that he had been out, 
which he sometimes did go out after his dinner, if in 
a condition to walk without assistance. Upon second 
thoughts was almost sure — though not going to swear 
about it, mind you — that he had been in his bedroom 
the whole afternoon. Certainly had not supplied him 
with liquor when in a state of intoxication, and them 
as said such things ought to know better. Finally burst 
into tempestuous weeping, and declared that if she was 
to be tried for complicity in a murder, tried she must 
he and hung by the neck until she was dead; but, hav- 
ing told the whole blessed truth, not another word was 
she going to say, and if her hus])and had been a man 
— which he was no such thing — he would not have 
stood by and seen her put upon as she had been. So 
there! 

The so-called Brown was traced as far as the Man- 
chester railway-station, at which point he appeared to 
have vanished into infinite space, and no success at- 
tended the subsequent efforts of Lionel and Strahan, 
the latter of whom, it may be conjectured, would have 
been less keen had he suspected that the man of whom 
he was in search was no other than his old college ac- 
quaintance Brydon. For the rest, all that could be 
learnt about the man pointed to the probability of his 
innocence. It seemed doubtful whether he could have 
had the requisite strength to wrest Colonel Vigne’s 
stick out of that sturdy old gentleman’s hands, and 
very unlikely that he could have made his escape in 
time to leave the place, as he was proved to have done, 
by the 4.45 train. 

In short,” remarked St. Quintin, one is driven 
to the conclusion that if Strahan doesn’t know who did 
this thing, nobody will ever know.” 

St. Quintin, by Lionel’s request, had not taken 
part in the general exodus which had naturally fol- 
lowed the family bereavement, and it was to Betty Mal- 
let, who, with her grandmother, had likewise remained 


•‘SOME PERSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN/’ 357 


at Middlewood, that he made the above rather equivocal 
speech. 

. “You dislike Mr. Strahan, of course,” answered 
Betty, with some indignation; “ but really I don’t think 
you ought to say such things as that. What do you 
mean? ” 

“ Only that, as he saw nothing of the murderer, and 
as he seems to be absolutely the only human being who 
could have seen anything of him, there is not much 
chance of the mystery being cleared up. I wasn’t ac- 
cusing him of being himself the criminal.” 

“ Then you shouldn’t talk as if you were,” returned 
Betty sharply. “ Sometimes you make me feel quite 
ashamed of you — or at least for you — ^by the things that 
you say. I don’t think I ever met anybody whose preju- 
dices were so strong or so vindictive as yours.” 

St. Quintin repeated that he had not meant to 
bring an accusation, which was monstrous upon the face 
of it. Nevertheless, he remembered a certain conversa- 
tion which he had had in London with Colonel Vigne; 
he knew that the two men had not been upon the best 
of terms, and in his heart of hearts he believed Strahan 
capable of anything. Such reflections, however, were 
reserved for his heart of hearts, in which inner sanc- 
tuary they had others of a milder, but not less lugubri- 
ous character to keep them company. Not being blessed 
with the faculty of self-deception, St. Quintin was well 
aware that he was not, and never could be, a possible 
aspirant for Betty Mallet’s hand; so that there seemed 
to be no reason for prolonging his stay in a house where 
there was nothing more for him to do. All the same, 
he did not particularly relish the idea of leaving Stra- 
han behind him, and when he announced his impending 
departure, he was glad to hear the latter say: 

“ Well, I believe I ought to be off too. They want 
me in London, it seems, and I am afraid I can be of 
little use here. Of course, though. I’ll manage to stay 
if I can help you in any way, Middlewood.” 

“ No, my dear fellow,” answered Lionel, with a 


358 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


despondent shrug of his shoulders; I doubt whether 
you can, thanks very much. I am determined to get 
to the bottom of this mystery, and perhaps, by continu- 
ing to cast about, one may hit off the scent eventually; 
but for the present one is completely at fault.” 

He was so completely at fault that his chances of 
success looked small indeed, and there was a grim irony 
in Strahan^s meditative remark of, “ Casting forward or 
back becomes a waste of time when the scent is cold. 
I almost think that, if I were you, I should give up the 
attempt.” 

I shall never do that,” answered Lionel quietly; 
but it’s a case for patience and constant vigilance 
rather than for active measures. You’ll think me a fool 
for- saying so, I dare say, but I have a presentiment 
that I shall end by collaring that ruffian and bringing 
him to the gallows. Evidence must exist, you see, 
though we have failed to discover it, so far.” 

Strahan was able to smile indulgently, notwith- 
standing a passing shudder and sense of chilliness. To 
talk about presentiments was, of course, to talk rubbish; 
but it was disagreeably true that evidence of some sort 
must exist. Somebody must assuredly be aware that 
Colonel Vigne at the time of his death had acquired 
certain documents, of which only one person could be 
interested in depriving him. That was as much as to 
say that somebody might at any moment make an ex- 
tremely awkward revelation. He asked himself whether 
he should go to Oxford — an obviously risky step — or 
whether, like Lionel, he should maintain an attitude of 
patient vigilance. His dislike of suspense inclined him 
towards the former alternative; but there was little else 
to recommend it. The person (there could not but be 
such a person) who knew that Colonel Vigne had got 
hold of Maggie Field’s letters had so far remained silent: 
it might, therefore, be assumed that he or she had no 
immediate intention of speaking, and sleeping dogs are 
best left undisturbed. On the other hand, to pursue 
a policy of inactivity with a noose round one’s neck and 


“SOME PERSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN.” 359 


an invisible executioner at the other end of the cord 
requires a good deal of self-control. 

But self-control was precisely the quality upon 
which Strahan most prided himself, and had the best 
reason to pride himself; so that the farewell audience 
which was accorded to him by Marietta some hours later 
found him thoroughly master of his words and actions. 
He read her face well enough to understand that indis- 
cretion on his part was neither expected nor likely to 
be permitted; but he also gathered that she had sent 
for him (when it would have been quite simple to omit 
doing so) because, in spite of herself, she could not 
make up her mind to relinquish her hold over him. 
So he said the things which she evidently wished him 
to say, and received, in the shape of unspoken gratitude, 
the reward which his reticence had earned. 

I hope,’’ Marietta said, as she gave him the signal 
to withdraw by rising from her chair, that we may 
meet again before very long; I have so few friends! 
But perhaps you will have gone back to Australia by 
the time that we are next in London.” 

Strahan shook his head. I think not. There is 
always a possibility of my being summoned to the other 
side of the world; but I shall certainly not obey the 
summons if I can help it. I could not leave England 
now without leaving — well, without leaving friends who 
can never be replaced.” 

That was putting the case so mildly that she was 
fain to smile upon him. “ I think,” she remarked, that 
with you work will always serve as an excellent sub- 
stitute for friends.” 

You think so? Yes; I thought so once, and not 
very long ago either. But I won’t talk about that: I 
must get back to my work now, at all events.” 

Do you mean,” she asked, that you are really 
going to settle down in London once more at this time 
of year? ” 

He nodded. ^^For a time I must: afterwards I 
may perhaps pay a few visits.” 


360 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Her eyes inquired whom he proposed to visit; hut 
as she did not put the question into words, he left it 
unanswered — being satisfied to note that she was not 
indifferent upon the subject. It was with an air of 
respectful deference that he presently resumed: 

Lady Middlewood, you were so good as to imply 
just now that you consider me your friend, and it isn’t 
necessary for me to say how I feel about you. Will 
you treat me as a friend, and write to me if at any time 
I can serve you, no matter in how trifling a way? I 
can’t express myself very well; but I hope you under- 
stand.” 

She did not altogether understand; still she was 
thankful to him both for what he had said and for what 
he had left unsaid. Oh, yes,” she answered, averting 
her eyes; “ and I won’t forget. I know you will do all 
you can to help me and Lionel in what we both have 
most at heart just now. Perhaps I may write to you 
about that some day.” 

So what Strahan had mentally called the luxury 
of indecision was to be prolonged, after all. When 
one comes to think of it,” he reflected, with a subse- 
quent shrug of his shoulders, ‘Hhere wasn’t much 
choice between that and a plain-spoken rupture. One 
is what one is; yet one retains certain scruples. Was 
ever a man in such an impasse before! I don’t see how 
it is going to end — hut I see that I shall have a letter 
from her very soon.” 


CHAPTER XXXIX. 

SOLITUDE A DEUX. 

Strahax and St. Quintin had to travel up to Lon- 
don by the same train — an arrangement desired by nei- 
ther of tliem, but one which could not very well be 


SOLITUDE A DEUX. 


361 


avoided. Betty Mallet, who, with, her brother, had ac- 
companied them to the front door, where a carriage 
was in waiting, deemed it advisable to pluck St. Quin- 
tin by the sleeve and whisper: 

“ See that ye fall not out by the way! ” 

I never,” replied St. Quintin gravely, “ fall out 
with anybody, unless I am attacked.” 

Betty’s uplifted eyebrows expressed great surprise. 
“ Is it possible! Well, I should like, just as a matter 
of harmless curiosity, to know when I have attacked 
you.” 

Never, that I am aware of. And I am not aware 
of our having fallen out either.” 

^^Now that,” said Betty, “is what I call humbug; 
and humbug, if you’ll excuse my telling you so, is not 
becoming to your style of beauty. At the same time, 
while you are at it, you might as well try to humbug 
Mr. Strahan a little. Not, of course, that you will suc- 
ceed; only there would be no harm done if you could 
restrain yourself during the journey from telling him 
in unequivocal language what you think of him. I am 
sure he knows what you think of him just as well as I 
know what you think of me; so a breach of the peace 
isn’t necessary.” 

“ I doubt very much,” answered St. Quintin, 
“ whether you know what I think of you. Strahan 
probably does know what I think of him, and certainly 
doesn’t care. You need have no fear of any breach 
of the peace.” 

He could say no more; for his travelling companion 
had already stepped into the carriage, and there was 
not too much time to spare. 

The painful impression which he took away with 
him was that Betty felt a personal interest in the 
preservation of that detested travelling companion from 
annoyance or assault. And this impression would have 
received indirect confirmation if he had heard what 
Lady Maria said to her grandson about Strahan shortly 
afterwards. 


362 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


“ So Betty has been bereaved of her two admirers/’ 
the old lady placidly remarked. Yes, my dear hoy, 
they are both of them admirers, and there is no occa- 
sion to look horrified. Poor Mr. St. Quintin, the state 
of whose feelings 1 have only discovered within the last 
few days, is perfectly harmless. It stands to reason that 
he would never do, and he is so reasonable that he will 
never attempt to make himself do. As for the other — 
Betty seems to like him, and he is a rising man, and 
really, after all the trouble that she has got herself 
into — what do you think?” 

I should he very sorry,” answered Lionel, with a 
frown, to think that you or she were contemplating 
what I can’t believe that Strahan himself contemplates. 
I like Strahan; he is an uncommonly clever fellow, and 
I dare say he will distinguish himself even more than 
he has done. But he isn’t, and I don’t see how he 
ever can he, quite in a position to marry one’s sister.” 

Lady Maria shrugged her shoulders. You are 
such a Tory! As if Toryism hadn’t come to an end for 
good and all when Dizzy betrayed us with his Reform 
Bill ever so long ago, and as if anybody wasn’t a match 
for anybody else nowadays! Wh}^ even my poor, dear 
Halsted — hut I won’t go back to that. What we have 
to face, you see, is that in the first place, that escapade 
of Betty’s has done her serious mischief, and in the 
second, that she is neither to he led nor driven. Better 
a Strahan than a Jocelyn, if it comes to that! However, 
I don’t mean to say that I wish her to he restricted to 
such a choice; I only mean that we might do worse. 
Meanwhile, I have a good many invitations to country 
houses, which I think ought to he accepted for her 
sake, old though I am and much as I hate staying with 
people. So I am afraid we must leave you to-morrow.” 

Isn’t that rather soon?” asked Lionel dubiously. 
Lady Maria thought not. She pointed out that neither 
she nor her granddaughter were in mourning, and that 
the late Colonel Vigne, though a very nice old gentle- 
man, whose tragic end had caused them both the deep- 


SOLITUDE A DEUX. 


363 


est sorrow, had been no blood-relation of theirs. She 
had been praying and would continue to pray, she said, 
for the repose of his soul Such a comfort to he able 
to pray for the repose of one’s friends’ souls and in- 
fringe no dogma of the Anglican Church! ”), hut one’s 
first duty, after all, is to the living, and more matri- 
monial engagements are brought about, upon the whole, 
by country visits than by London seasons. Besides,” 
she added, “ I do begin to feel the want of a little 
change myself. If by remaining here we could be of 
any comfort to dear Marietta, that would be another 
thing; but, as she prefers to shut herself up, why — our 
absence can make no difference to her, can it?” 

The departure of Lady Maria and Betty, which took 
place on the ensuing day, did not, in truth, make any 
great difference to Marietta, who only asked to be left 
alone. The condition of apathetic despondency into 
which she had fallen since her father’s death was not 
altogether due to that catastrophe; but it pleased her 
to think that it was, and that nothing could console 
her for the loss of the one mortal who had been in com- 
plete sympathy with Her. She had never, she felt sure, 
been understood by Strahan, who had had the temer- 
ity to accuse her of loving him, and from whom she 
was almost, if not quite, glad to be delivered. There 
had, no doubt, been a moment when she had been ready 
to throw herself into his arms! but that was a past 
insanity, a bygone danger — swept away from her by the 
tragedy of her irreparable bereavement. She thought 
of him now as of a friend, to whom she might possibly 
apply in some future stress of weather, and upon whose 
devotion it was safe to count. He had, in a word, com- 
mitted himself, while she had done no such thing; so 
that he had ceased to be exciting: she had no present 
intention of reopening communications with him by 
post. 

It will be perceived that if poor Colonel Vigne had 
understood his daughter, she was very far indeed from 
understanding herself, and that Lord Middlewood pos- 
24 


364 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


sessed a wife whom no wise neighbour of his would have 
been tempted to break the tenth commandment by 
coveting. And the truth was that Lionel, after sitting 
for a while with his wife and trying to cheer her up — 
which he conscientiously did twice a day — was unable 
to regard himself as a particularly enviable man. It 
was not possible to cheer her up, nor did it appear that 
if anything could have brought about that desirable 
result, it would have been his company and conversa- 
tion. 

I wish you wouldn’t think yourself bound to waste 
so much time upon me,” she said. I know this sort 
of life must be appallingly dull for you, and of course 
you can’t feel as I do — why should you? Don’t you 
think it would be a better plan for you to go away some- 
where and amuse yourself, like Lady Maria and Betty? 
Then, perhaps, when you come back, I should have 
more than on'e subject to talk about.” 

Lionel absolutely refused to desert his wife; but he 
did think it rather bad for her to harp perpetually upon 
one sad and mysterious subject. It was a subject which 
engrossed the greater part of his own attention and in- 
terest, and he did not mean to leave the mystery un- 
solved; still, since everything that could as yet be said 
respecting it had been said again and again, and since 
she did not care to speak about anything else, he not 
unfrequently found himself sitting opposite to her in 
enforced and perplexed silence. The police were con- 
tinuing their researches, of the failure of which he duly 
kept her informed, day by day: that having been done, 
she had the air of wishing that he would take himself 
off, and he usually complied with her wishes at the 
end of a rather long quarter of an hour. He was very 
patient and he made every allowance for his wife: but 
it was evident that for the time being he was powerless 
to rouse or comfort her. At length, in the hope that 
change of scene might do some good, he suggested a 
move to Ludworth. 

You have always liked the place better than this,” 


SOLITUDE A DEUX. 


365 


he remarked, and for the matter of that, so do I. Sup- 
pose we flit? Or would you care to run abroad again 
for a few weeks? 

She shook her head. I would rather not go any- 
where beyond reach of news which may come from one 
moment to another,^^ she answered. “ Besides, you de- 
test foreign countries.” 

Oh, there’s the telegraph; one can’t be beyond 
reach of news nowadays. As for me, I certainly 
shouldn’t detest any place that you would like.” 

Thanks; but there isn’t any place on the Conti- 
nent that I should like well enough to face the trouble 
and weariness of getting there.” 

Ludworth, then? ” 

Very well; Ludworth, if you choose. It really 
doesn’t signify.” 

Lionel walked up and down the room, with his hands 
in his pockets. Marietta,” he said at last, will you 
think me a brute if I ask you something?” 

She opened her half-closed eyes and looked faintly 
surprised. 

I don’t suppose I shall,” she replied; “ you are 
not much given to brutality. But of course one doesn’t 
know until one hears.” 

Well, I am afraid it may sound rather brutal to 
ask whether it is only your poor father’s death that is 
making you so wretched. That is sufficient to make 
you wretched, I know; but sometimes I fancy that you 
may have some other trouble; and if that is so ” 

What then? ” she inquired, glancing up at him, as 
he came to a standstill before her. 

Then it might relieve you, I should think, to tell 
somebody what was the matter. I’m not asking for 
your confldence — that is for you to grant or withhold, 
as you please — only, when all’s said, I suppose your hus- 
band is the person in whom you might naturally be ex- 
pected to conflde, if you conflded in anybody.” 

Marietta’s short, unmirthful laugh jarred upon his 
ears and made him conscious of having said a somewhat 


866 


MAEIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


silly thing. Oh, of course it doesn’t follow/’ he made 
haste to add. Only — setting aside cheap cynicisms 
and commonplaces — the fact remains that a woman’s 
husband is the human being who ought to stand nearest 
to her.” 

She laughed again; she was struck for an instant 
by the quaintness of the notion that a woman might 
find relief in confessing to an unsympathetic husband 
that she was, or had been, or had imagined herself to 
be, in love with somebody else. Yet she would perhaps 
have done that very thing, had his appeal been a little 
more felicitously phrased. As it was, she merely re- 
marked: 

A good many things aren’t what they ought to be, 
and ought to he what they aren’t. The most dutiful 
wife in the world would have to keep a few secrets from 
her husband if she only spoke French and he didn’t 
know a word of anything hut German.” 

“ Well, if you chose to put it in that way — hut — 
come. Marietta, is there any trouble that I don’t know 
of? I dare say I am a little dull of comprehension; 
but probably I am not quite so dull as you make me 
out.” 

She shrugged her shoulders. There is the per- 
petual, permanent trouble of being what one is,” she 
replied. 

'^1 don’t quite understand what you mean,” said 
Lionel. 

'' Of course you don’t. Didn’t I tell you that we 
don’t speak the same language, you and 1 ? You are 
an Englishman, whereas I am, for all practical purposes, 
a foreigner: perhaps that explains everything. At any 
rate, I can’t find any other explanation of my being 
unintelligible, and really I haven’t any confessions to 
make, except that I haven’t money enough left to pay 
my dressmaker.” 

Lionel’s brow cleared. If that was all, the dress- 
maker should at once be paid, and, as he happened to 
have his cheque-book in his pocket, it only took him 


SOLITUDE A DEUX. 


367 


a miniTte to provide his wife with a larger sum than she 
required. He hoped that she would never allow herself 
to be worried about money matters, he said. 

She took the slip of paper from him with a word 
or two of thanks and an inward ejaculation to the effect 
that he was too utterly impossible! She had given him 
— so she said to herself — a chance of winning her con- 
fidence, and his answer was to raise her wages! Well 
might he describe himself as being a little dull of com- 
prehension! 

More impartial critics may be of opinion that Lionel 
was scarcely to blame for his alleged dulness and that 
it would have taken a very clever man indeed to dis- 
cover that Marietta wished him to persist with his 
queries. Anyhow, he remained under the impression 
that that was exactly what she did not wish, and he 
regulated his conduct accordingly. Not without hesita- 
tion he had asked a question which he had more than 
once before refrained from asking, and he had been 
snubbed for his pains; he was not likely to court a sec- 
ond rebuff. The move to Ludworth was duly accom- 
plished soon afterwards, but this brought about no im- 
provement in his wife^s spirits, nor did he again sug- 
gest any mitigation of the solitude which she apparently 
preferred. For his own part he submitted uncomplain- 
ingly to that solitude, shot partridges, transacted county 
business, corresponded at intervals with Scotland Yard, 
and kept awake as long as he could after dinner. If 
he was a little bit bored, and if he could not help yawn- 
ing sometimes, he may surely be forgiven. 

As a matter of fact, however, he was not forgiven. 
Marietta, who herself soon became so cruelly bored that 
it was simply a necessity for her to condemn somebody, 
felt that anything would be better than a prolongation 
of this manner of life, and had little difficulty in con- 
cluding that she owed no consideration to a man who 
treated her as virtually non-existent. And so it came 
to pass that on a rainy day, when she was quite alone — 
Lionel having absented himself for forty-eight hours to 


368 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


join a shooting-party on the other side of the county — 
she sat down to her writing-table and fulfilled the an- 
ticipations of an absent friend. 

“You ask me,” she wrote, to let you know if you 
could he of service to me in any way, and I am taking 
you at your word. You would do me a very real service 
if you would come down here and stay with us for a 
short time. What monarch was it who used to open a 
conversation with one of his courtiers by saying politely, 
^ Ennuyons-nous un peu ensemble, monsieur f ’ As I have 
nothing but the direst ennui to offer you, this invitation 
may count as a compliment; for it proves at least that 
I believe in your sincerity. 

‘‘ We have nobody with us, and are not asking any- 
body. Since you left Middlewood I literally have not 
spoken to a civilised being, except my husband; so I 
leave you to imagine how entertaining you are likely to 
find me. On the other hand you wonff find me hard 
to entertain! you are sure to have plenty of news to 
give me; but even if you are driven to fall hack upon 
things which you have told me already, I shall not 
grumble — I am not as exacting as I was.” 

Having got so far. Marietta laid down her pen. Was 
it worth while to adopt that tone of rather feeble and 
laboured jocularity? Would not her correspondent un- 
derstand perfectly well what she meant, and smile at her 
attempts to disguise her real meaning? Why not blurt 
out the truth and say, Come to me! — I can’t live with- 
out you, and I can endure my husband no longer?” 

But perhaps, after all, that was not the truth; and 
certainly, if it was, reticence was more likely to bring 
about what she wished for than surrender. For the 
rest, she did not know with any sort of accuracy what 
she wished for; she did not trust Strahan, and whether 
she loved him or not was a question which might be 
answered, and had been answered, negatively or af- 
firmatively, in accordance with her varying moods. 


SOLITUDE A DEUX. 


369 


Upon one point alone she was quite clear: her present 
solitude a deux must he put an end to by somebody, 
or she would go mad. So she wound up her letter in 
much the same fashion as that in which she had begun 
it, saying to herself that its recipient would most likely 
he able to read between the lines. And then it would 
always remain open to her to assure him that he had 
read amiss. 

When Lionel returned from his shooting-party the 
next day, she said carelessly: “ I wrote to Mr. Strahan 
yesterday, asking him to run down and stay a short time 
with us, if he had nothing better to do. I suppose you 
won’t mind?” 

Lionel looked a good deal surprised. “ Not at all,” 
he answered; on the contrary, I shall be very glad 
to see Strahan. But I thought you did not want to be 
troubled with visitors. Have you asked anybody else? ” 
Oh, no; it was only a sudden fancy of mine. He 
may have heard something, you see; he promised to do 
all he could; and I can’t help thinking that he is far 
cleverer than those solemn, mysterious detectives of 
yours. Do you know whether he is in London ? ” 

Lionel believed not, but could not say for certain. 
He had. heard of Strahan, not long ago, as staying with 
people somewhere in the West of England. “But, of 
course, letters will be forwarded to him from London, 
and I am sure he will be glad to accept your invitation, 
unless he is otherwise engaged. I am afraid he will 
have no news- to give vou, though — if there were any, 
I should have been told.” 

“ I suppose you would, and I dare say he will be 
otherwise engaged. It won’t matter much if he is,” said 
Marietta listlessly. “Where did you say that he was 
staying? ” 

“ I really can’t remember. I think it must have been 
Betty who mentioned in one of her letters that she had 
met him. She and granny are making a sort of visita- 
tion of the counties of Devon and Somerset, you know.” 

Marietta made no rejoinder; but she took a mental 


370 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


note of the circumstance that Mr. Strahan appeared to 
he upon her sister-in-law’s track. She had spoken al- 
most with sincerity, the minute before, in saying that 
it would not much matter if he should fail to respond 
to her summons; hut this trifle caused her to change 
her ever-changing mind. She was resolved now that 
Strahan should come to Ludworth with his will or 
against it. 


CHAPTER XL. 

STRAHAN LOOKS MATTERS IN THE- FACE. 

It was at a certain picturesque old house in North 
Devon, where he had been staying for nearly a week, 
that Marietta’s letter reached Strahan, to whom the 
sight of her handwriting was not altogether welcome. 
He did not at once tear open the envelope which lay 
on the top of a little heap of others beside his plate 
at the breakfast table, hut hastily shifted its position. 
Lady Maria Halsted, or Miss Mallet, both of whom 
were temporary inmates of the establishment, might 
catch sight of and recognise the superscription — which 
he was not particularly anxious that they should do. 
The latter of these two ladies, indeed, who presently 
came in and seated herself beside him (whether by ac- 
cident or by design, she had generally been placed by 
his side of late, he had noticed), disconcerted him a little 
by asking him whether he had heard from Marietta. 

From Lady Middlewood ? ” was his faintly sur- 
prised rejoiner. 

Betty nodded. I have had a line from Lionel, 
who says they want you to go and stay with them at 
Ludworth. He is afraid you will And it horribly slow; 
hut he thinks you may he willing to perform an act of 
charity. Are you willing? ” 


STRAHAN LOOKS MATTERS IN THE FACE. 371 


Strahan hardly knew whether he was or not. 
“ Well/^ he replied, we are all going on to Wortley 
Manor the day after to-morrow, aren’t we ? ” 

Granny and I are,” said Betty; “ I didn’t know 
abont you.” 

Oh, I’m going too; I have been asked. After- 
wards I may he obliged to run up to London: I can’t 
very well say as yet. Do you and Lady Maria return 
home from Wortley? ” 

Betty believed so. Unless they want us at Lud- 
worth, as perhaps they may,” she added. 

After breakfast Strahan gathered up his correspond- 
ence and made for a sheltered bench in the garden 
that he knew of. Although the season was far advanced, 
it was still warm enough to sit out of doors in that mild 
climate, and he wanted to he alone. The contents of 
Marietta’s missive, which it did not take him long to 
master, rendered it imperative upon him, he felt, to 
come to some decision, and sundry business communi- 
cations which he subsequently perused with a wrinkled 
brow inclined him to decide against accepting her in- 
vitation. 

Let us look matters in the face,” he ended by say- 
ing to himself. The Company is not prospering; it 
won’t and can’t prosper for some time to come, while 
it may quite possibly collapse altogether within the next 
few months. Nothing can be more evident than that I 
ought to have a second string to my how, and really 
it seems to me that I should be the very biggest fool in 
England to turn my back upon a charming heiress who 
shows a rather marked preference for my humble per- 
son. Just look at the alternative !— who hut a horn 
lunatic would ever think twice of it? Yet I do think of 
it, and I shall always think of it, and I shall always 
adore her, I suppose — ridiculous though it is of me. 
But surely I shall not be quite mad enough to adopt 
it?” 

Nobody is so mad as a sensible, hard-headed man, 
when once he has reached the point of doubting whether 


372 


MAKIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


common sense and hardness of head are worth while. 
Strahan had scarcely reached that point yet; still there 
had been moments when he had been perilously near it. 
An elopement? — well, yes; it would have to be that or 
nothing. Ridiculous again, of course; hut — Marietta 
being what she was — practically unavoidable. An elope- 
ment, then, to be followed (possibly) by the dawn of a 
new life in a new world, by the pursuit of ambitions 
which need not necessarily be abandoned, and by a 
happiness which was at least as likely to prove lasting 
as the happiness of any newly-married pair can he. That 
was the possibility: probability, no doubt, pointed to the 
usual regrets, mutual disenchantment, weariness, ruin 
and ultimate separation. 

‘‘And to crown all,’’ muttered Strahan, “there is 
the ugly circumstance of my having killed her father! 
Oh, no! it’s a thing to dream about; it isn’t a thing 
to do. I wonder whether the other is a thing to do — 
at least, I wonder whether it is a thing that can be done. 
Not very easily, I suspect. Middlewood won’t like it, 
and as for Marietta — by Jove! if I know anything of 
Marietta, she’ll stop it. As most likely she can by sim- 
ply letting her sister-in-law know what has passed be- 
tween us. At the same time, the girl is her own mis- 
tress, and the old woman, for some reason best known 
to herself, is disposed to smile upon me. She evidently 
thinks that I am going to be a great man — and so, per- 
haps, I am — but she is an old goose to imagine that her 
granddaughter’s value in the matrimonial market has 
really been depreciated by a little adventure which is 
already almost forgotten.” 

The sound of a slowly approaching footstep upon 
the gravel caused him to look up, and in another mo- 
ment he was brought face to face with the lady to whom 
he had just applied an unflattering but not undeserved 
designation. It was not undeserved; for Lady Maria 
really did think that there might now be difficulty in 
arranging a good match for Betty, and had also formed 
a somewhat exaggerated estimate of Strahan’s prospec- 


STRAHAN LOOKS MATTERS IN THE FACE. 373 

tive importance. Misled by the extreme affability with 
which that clever manipulator of shares was treated in 
high quarters, and apprehensive lest the unmanageable 
Betty should at any moment be guilty of an irremedi- 
able coup de tete, she had made up her mind to give an 
invitation which she had trotted out into the garden 
for the express purpose of delivering, and it was in her 
most gracious manner that she asked: 

“ What do you think of doing after you leave the 
Wortleys, Mr. Strahan?’^ 

Strahan replied that he had no very definite plans. 

‘‘Oh, haven’t you?” said the old lady. “Well, I 
only asked because I shall be having a few people at 
Chelton next week, and if you cared to join our dull 
little party, we should be delighted to have you. I 
can’t offer you much in the way of attraction, but you 
would get a few days’ shooting, and you would help to 
amuse my granddaughter, who has had less amusement 
this autumn than I should have liked to give her, poor 
child! ” 

Strahan saw at once that the offer was not one to 
be refused. To accept it would commit him to nothing, 
and would enable him to effect a sort of compromise, 
since he could easily run over to Ludworth from Chel- 
ton for a few hours and ascertain what Marietta’s dis- 
positions were. In all probability she would prove hos- 
tile; yet there was just the chance — with women, and 
especially with such a woman as she, there are always all 
manner of chances — that she would set him free. On 
the occasion of their last interview, indeed, she had 
rather pointedly given him to understand that he had 
nothing beyond friendship to expect from her. So he 
told Lady Maria that he would be only too charmed 
to avail himself of her very kind hospitality, to which 
she rejoined briskly: 

“ That’s all right. Then we may as well travel north 
together. By the way, what is this I see in the papers 
about more gold having been put into your mines than 
will ever come out of them?” 


374 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Strahan shrugged his shoulders. Some mines have 
turned out a failure,” he answered; that was sure to 
happen. Strictly speaking, they do not belong to us; 
still we are indirectly liaMe, and no doubt our shares 
will have a temporary fall. But there is not the slight- 
est cause for alarm. In fact, if I ever ventured to offer 
financial advice to my friends, I should tell them that 
now was their time to buy.” 

While studiously refraining from offering any such 
advice to Lady Maria (for in truth he did not think too 
well of the immediate outlook, and naturally did not 
wish that the old lady should lose money through him) 
he nevertheless contrived to set her mind completely 
at rest; after which he returned to the house and com- 
posed a diplomatic reply to Lady Middlewood. 

“ I wish with all my heart that I could obey your 
summons,” he wrote; hut, alas! I am booked to stay 
a few days with some other people in the same county 
when I leave this, and then I am to go, I believe, to 
Lady Maria Halsted, who has kindly invited me. At 
Chelton, however, I shall be within reach of you, and 
perhaps you will allow me to look you up one day. I 
am sorry to hear of ennui, and would gladly believe, if 
I could, that it might be relieved in ever so small a de- 
gree by my society; but unhappily I have nothing fresh 
to say about the sad subject which I fear is the only 
one that interests you now. I am sure I need not add 
that it has by no means ceased to interest me, and I 
do not even yet despair of ultimately hitting upon 
some clue to the mystery; but for the moment I am 
bound to confess that I am as completely baffled as the 
police.” 

That was Strahan’s idea of a diplomatic missive. 
But then, as has been said before, he was better quali- 
fied to deal with his own than with the other sex, and it 
did not occur to him that no woman on earth could 
read those words and doubt his disinclination to respond 


STRAHAN LOOKS MATTERS IN THE FACE. 375 

to her appeal. At luncheon he found himself again 
seated beside Betty Mallet, to whom he remarked: 

Your grandmother has been paying me a great 
compliment. She wants me to go down to Derbyshire 
with you and spend a short time at Chelton.” 

Betty’s evident surprise showed that this sugges- 
tion had not originated with her. Granny doesn’t 
pay such compliments to everybody,” said she. Are 
you, by any chance, an authority on matters of ritual? 
Or is it that you can put her in the way of making in- 
vestments which combine excitement with profit?” 

Strahan did not think that he had won Lady Maria’s 
favour by either of the methods specified. Certainly 
not by the former: as for the latter, he could only say 
that if he knew how to make investments at once ex- 
citing and profitable he would not now be as poor as 
he regretted to be. 

Then,” observed Betty, that crafty old ching 
must have some other motive. I wonder what it can 
be!” 

Her blue eyes, with an amused sparkle in them, met 
those of her neighbour, who was a little puzzled. His 
impression (which was not a mistaken one) was that the 
girl liked him, but whether she had thought of him, 
or had the smallest idea of accepting him as her future 
husband was another question. And he did not at all 
know how to make love to her. The art of making love 
was one which he had never thought it worth his while 
to study, nor perhaps could he have attained to pro- 
ficiency in it, seeing that his was anything but an amor- 
ous temperament. Every now and again in the course 
of his busy life he had been casually fascinated by some 
woman or other, and had achieved sundry easy victories; 
he was now, for the first time, genuinely in love with a 
woman whom every consideration of prudence warned 
him to avoid, and he had gone the length of telling 
her so. For Betty Mallet, in spite of her being very 
pretty, very attractive and capital company, it was out 
of his power to entertain any such sentiment — which 


376 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


was unfortunate, since every consideration of prudence 
urged him to pay court to her. However, he did his 
best, and was so far successful that she understood per- 
fectly well what he was driving at. 

‘‘You don’t go to Lud worth, then?” she said, in- 
terrogatively. 

And he really thought that he was making a 
rather neat rejoinder when he replied, “ How can I — 
with the alternative of going to Chelton before 
me? ” 

It may have been a shrewd estimate of what Mr. 
Strahan’s admiration was worth, or it may have been 
(as he hoped it was) mere juvenile coquetry that caused 
Miss Betty from that moment to hold her would-be 
suitor at arm’s length. In any case, his suit made no 
progress until the change of quarters to Wortley Manor, 
a neighbouring mansion, brought about, for some rea- 
son or other, a change of demeanour on the young lady’s 
part. Round the dinner-table at Wortley Manor there 
was a fresh set of faces, including one which never had 
much charm for Strahan, and which, indeed, was apt 
to assume an unbecoming scowl as often as he looked 
at it. Mr. and Mrs. Wortley happened to be old friends 
of St. Quintin’s, so that he had every right to be where 
he w'as; but that did not prevent Strahan from cursing 
the pertinacity with which the fellow turned up every- 
where; nor did the lady to whom Mr. St. Quin tin had 
been requested to give his arm, show any pleasure at 
an encounter which she might have — and, in fact, had 
— anticipated. 

“What are you doing down in these parts?” Betty 
inquired. 

“ Nothing particular,” answered the young man 
meekly. “ I heard that you were to be here this w^eek,” 
he added, leaving her to decide whether or not that 
statement was to be taken as an explanation. 

“ We have been paying a lot of visits, and meeting 
a lot of stupid people,” Betty remarked. “ I am very 
glad that we are now on our way home — especially as 


STRAHAN LOOKS MATTERS IN THE FACE. 377 


Mr. Strahan, who can^t be called stupid, is to accom- 
pany us.” 

Do you mean that he is going to stay with you? ” 
asked St. Quintin, in unconcealed surprise and dis- 
pleasure. 

If you have no objection. But I notice that you 
make a point of objecting to all my friends. However, 
as you won’t be in the house with him this time, it 
doesn’t matter.” 

St. Quintin sighed. I didn’t know that Strahan 
was a friend of yours,” said he. 

She took some trouble that evening, and during the 
next few days, to convince him that she entertained a 
sincere regard for the gentleman in question. Had he 
imagined that she was taking trouble in order to do 
so, he would doubtless have felt somewhat reassured; 
but, of course, he suspected nothing of the kind. He 
only saw that Strahan’s assiduous attentions were re- 
ceived with every apparent encouragement; and he said 
to himself that Lady Maria, who was complacently look- 
ing on, must have lost her senses. Better a thousand 
times Charlie Jocelyn than such an unscrupulous mis- 
creant as he believed this man to be! 

As, however, no words of his were likely to bring 
Lady Maria back to her senses, and as he felt that it 
would be worse than useless to remonstrate with Betty, 
he was fain to hold his peace while a flirtation which 
everybody noticed was carried on vigorously under his 
nose. 1 came here for the sake of seeing her,” he told 
himself, “ and, having got what I came for, I can’t 
complain. All the same, I wish I hadn’t been such an 
idiot as to imagine that seeing her would make me any 
happier! ” 

On the concluding day of his stay Betty, who had 
scarcely spoken to him all the time, offered him her 
sympathetic congratulations. 

“ How glad you will be to get out of this! ” she re- 
marked. I don’t know when I have seen any one 
look so bored. And yet I should have said that we had 


378 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


been rather a jolly party on the whole. A much jollier 
one than we shall be at Chelton, anyhow.” 

^^You are not looking forward to that?” asked St. 
Quintin, with a faint, foolish hope that she was not. 

To entertaining a select circle of aged frumps ? 
Well, no; not exactly. To be sure, there will be Mr. 
Strahan, which is an unspeakable blessing. But I think 
you said that you disapproved of our showing .any hos- 
pitality to Mr. Strahan.” 

“ Excuse me; I never said that. I haven’t the right 
to disapprove of anybody whom you and Lady Maria 
may delight to honour.” 

And if you had that right? ” 

^^Well — then I should exercise it by disapproving 
of Strahan, I suppose.” 

^‘Why?” 

This was almost more than St. Quintin could bear. 

Do you really wish me to tell you ? ” he asked. 

Betty assured him that she really did; so he drew 
a long breath and came out bluntly with, Because I 
am afraid he wants to marry you.” 

Oh,” said Betty composedly, “is that it? But 
there wouldn’t be any particular harm in his wanting, 
would there? ” 

“ There would if he had a chance of getting what 
he wanted.” 

“ You think, perhaps, that I might do better? Well, 
I don’t know; I have a tarnished reputation, you see.” 

“ For heaven’s sake, don’t say such things! ” ex- 
claimed St. Quintin, aghast. 

“ I don’t make a habit of saying them. To you it 
doesn’t matter what I say; for you are in posse.ssion of 
the melancholy facts, and you can’t be more shocked at 
me than you are already. You don’t happen to like 
Mr. Strahan; but for my own part I don’t see why he 
shouldn’t do as well as another. He is clever and a 
good sportsman and a gentleman. Or would you deny 
that he is a gentleman ? ” 

St. Quintin felt justified in replying that he would. 


ON THE BRINK. 


3Y9 


For anything that I know to the contrary, Strahan’s 
parentage may be all right; hut his conduct hasn^t al- 
ways been what I should call that of a gentleman. 
Besides which, I don’t believe that he would look twice 
at you if you were a portionless nobody.” 

Many thanks,” said Betty, laughing. “ Very likely 
you are right; but then again it is just possible that you 
may be wrong; and such is my vanity that I quite hope 
you are.” 

This terminated the colloquy, and St. Quintin was 
dismissed with a mournful conviction that the girl 
whom he loved was bent upon moral suicide. 


CHAPTER XLI. 

ON THE BRINK. 

On a cold, wild and windy afternoon Lady Middle- 
wood sent the carriage which was waiting for her at 
the door back to the stables and set forth on foot, bound 
she neither knew nor cared whither. Walking was not 
much to her taste; but it was upon the whole a shade 
less dreary than driving, she thought, and time had to 
be killed somehow. She had her time and her abode 
all to herself, to do what she liked with; for Lionel had 
gone off to Newmarket to see a horse of his run in one 
of the great autumn handicaps, and she had declined an 
amiable invitation which had reached her by post from 
Lady Maria Halsted. That same post had brought her 
a letter from Lady Gosport, which she took out of her 
pocket, as she wandered across the park, and read for 
the fourth or fifth time; although only a few of its 
numerous sentences had any interest for her. That 
Lady Gosport was arranging a concert for the benefit 
of distressed Irish ladies, that she wanted it to he a 
25 


380 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


great success, and that she confidently appealed to her 
cousin to travel several hundred miles in order to ren- 
der v6cal assistance on the occasion — these were state- 
ments which scarcely called for reperusal. They might 
be answered, and indeed had been answered, by a 
prompt expression of regret that recent bereavement 
rendered it quite out of the question for Lady Middle- 
wood to appear upon a public platform. But such re- 
marks as the following were less easily disposed of. 

“ I really think Aunt Maria must he going off her 
head! Can you imagine what she means by offering 
— from what I hear, she literally is offering — Betty to 
that Mr. Strahan; who is a rising man, I dare say, hut 
who has absolutely no position at present, nor any ante- 
cedents that can he discovered! I am told that at the 
Wortleys^, where they were staying the other day, every- 
body expected the engagement to he announced, and 
now she has asked the man down to Chelton, it seems. 
I wish you would speak to Lionel about it; he ought, 
as head of the family, to interfere. Of course I know 
that Betty was inexcusably foolish last season; but it 
does not follow that she should be thrown away upon 
the first nobody who approaches her. I would write 
to Aunt Maria myself; only there is never the slightest 
use in my saying anything, and I should only be told 
to mind my own business. What a dreadful mistake it 
is to make any woman, young or old, independent! 

The independence of Lady Maria was doubtless de- 
plorable; that of Betty Mallet might or might not be 
so. All would depend upon whether she was or was not 
enamoured of Roland Strahan, and Marietta derived 
some comfort from a tolerably strong conviction that 
she was not. Betty was not at all likely to marry any 
man without loving him, nor was she the sort of girl 
to be influenced for a moment by the persuasions of 
her grandmother. It was, however, quite conceivable 
that the ambitious Strahan might be tempted to espouse 


ON THE BRINK. 


381 


an attractive and highly connected heiress for whom 
he entertained no tender passion. That he was being 
virtually invited to do so appeared almost certain, and 
even if Lady Gosport had said nothing, Marietta’s sus- 
picions would have been aroused by his own announce- 
ment of his impending visit to Chelton. 

To that announcement she had made no epistolary 
rejoinder. In her disappointment and vexation she 
had determined to leave him severely alone, and had 
gone so far as to say to herself that she would not care 
a straw if she never saw him again. But it must be 
assumed that she did care, or that she thought she 
cared, or at any rate that she could not bear the idea 
of tamely allowing her captive to be filched from her; 
for a telegram, containing a curtly worded summons 
to Ludworth, was even now on its way to Lady Maria’s 
visitor. He was requested to come over to luncheon 
on the morrow, and was informed that a carriage would 
be sent to the station to meet him. 

He will have to come,” Marietta mused; it would 
be hardly possible for him to refuse. I wonder what he 
will say? I should not like to be in his place; and yet 
— very likely he won’t mind. He is cold enough and 
material enough to shrug his shoulders and declare that 
he can’t afford to disregard the main chance. Besides, 
he will have realised that I am powerless — that I can 
neither betray him nor stoop to reproach him.” 

She rehearsed a dialogue in which her faithless lover 
was made to feel exceedingly uncomfortable, and in 
which she herself made various cutting and contemptu- 
ous speeches; but the prospect of dismissing Strahan 
with his tail between his legs failed, somehow, to sat- 
isfy her. The only reflection which did give her some 
satisfaction was that at least she had never told him 
that she loved him. She had told herself that she did; 
but that, perhaps, had not been the truth. She told 
herself now that she did not, and the assertion availed 
her so little that tears of mortification came into her 
eyes. 


382 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


'Now, whatever may have been the condition of her 
feelings (and it was quite beyond her to unravel them), 
she was clear upon one point — namely, that she was a 
most miserable and disenchanted woman. She stood 
for a time with her back against the trunk of a Scotch 
fir, and contemplated the wide domain over which she 
bore joint rule, while the wind roared through the 
houghs overhead and the homing rooks were blown 
about like black rags against a pale yellow sky. 

“ Che commedia! ” she muttered, thinking of her life 
and its ironically fulfilled aspirations. Wealth, liberty, 
a splendid social position and a husband who, to do him 
justice, was complaisant and pecuniarily generous, if 
not very ardently affectionate — what more had she ever 
desired? Assuredly she had not desired or expected 
more on her wedding day, and that made the hitter 
taste of all these sweet things the more irritating and 
perplexing. Bitter or sweet, they were worth nothing 
to her, and she was ready to resign them all at a word. 
So, at least, she assured the rooks and the trees, in the 
absence of a more attentive hut less safe confidant. 
Such a confidant might possibly, on the morrow, speak 
such a word; in which case — ; — 

In which case,^^ said Marietta, smiling for the first 
time, ^^he will not he taken at it. No! it would he 
madness to trust him, and he does not deserve to he 
trusted. Still I should like to bring him to his knees 
once more before I send him away. I want to reject 
him, not he rejected.^^ 

Well, at all events, she had now discovered one 
thing that she wanted, and on her return to the house 
she found the anticipated telegram which informed her 
that her commands would he obeyed. 

Delighted to go to you by the train you mention,” 
was Strahan^s message. “ So sorry to hear that you 
won’t come to us.” 

To speak of visiting Lady Maria as coming to us ” 
was, to say the least of it, rather suggestive. Could 
the suggestiveness be intentional? A strong suspicion 


ON THE BRINK. 


383 


that it was caused Marietta to furbish up her armour 
in preparation for the encounter which she foresaw, 
and enabled her to harden her heart against the respect- 
fully eloquent glances of the gentleman who was duly 
shown into her presence on the following day. She met 
those glances of his with a cold and steady stare: if he 
had any news to impart or to imply, a difficult task 
should not be rendered easy for him. 

But he declined to take the initiative. He dis- 
coursed easily and fluently upon commonplace subjects 
during luncheon, and when the servants had withdrawn 
he invited his hostess to fire first by asking her point- 
blank why she had sent for him. 

Because,” said he, “ I am not vain enough to be- 
lieve, as I should like to believe, that you merely wished 
to do an act of kindness to an old friend.” 

Marietta put forward the anxiety that he knew of 
as her motive. “ You said in your letter that you were 
as completely baffled as the police; but I can’t think 
that you are really as stupid as they are. Have you 
been doing anything all this time? Have you been 
trying to hit upon a clue? It seems so impossible for 
such a murder to be committed in broad daylight and 
for the murderer to vanish, without leaving the faintest 
trace! ” 

Strahan made a gesture of deprecation. ^Ht does 
seem impossible,” he acknowledged, and we are as 
stupid as you like to call us; but — what can I say? 
I assure you I haven’t been idle, and I don’t mean to 
admit that we are beaten yet. At the same time I 
can’t help feeling that each blank day diminishes our 
chances of ever getting at the truth. My one consola- 
tion is that, after all, revenge would not give us back 
what we have lost.” 

Oh, you haven’t lost anything,” said Marietta 
brusquely; “ you don’t require any consolation. And if 
you did, you have found it by this time, I imagine.” 

“ You think I have lost nothing? ” returned Stra- 
han, looking straight into her eyes. You think I don’t 


384 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


know what I have lost? Well, you are mistaken. I sup- 
pose I ought not to speak about it; but nothing will 
ever convince me that that fatal afternoon did not rob 
me of — in short, of all that I care to live for! 

I did not mean to keep my appointment with you 
that afternoon,^^ she said quickly. 

“ Because your father dissuaded you.” 

How do you know that ? ” 
guessed it; and it seems that I guessed rightly. 
Oh, and I can guess other things too. Your feelings 
have changed; after such a shock, and in view of the 
fact that your poor father had a very natural dislike 
for me, that is not unnatural. I don’t wonder at it, 
and I don’t complain.” 

“ I am sure you don’t. You have the best of reasons 
for being resigned, have you not ? ” 

His request that she would explain herself was 
granted with promptitude. The conversation was not 
taking quite the course which Marietta had meant it 
to take, and she was conscious of losing the self-control 
which her interlocutor obviously retained; hut what was 
not less obvious to her was that he wanted to make his 
escape upon the plea that he had been forcibly emanci- 
pated, and this she was resolved that he should not do. 
She charged him in plain language with perfidy; she 
dared him to deny that he was at Chelton in pursuance 
of a design upon Betty Mallet’s hand and fortune. 

“ And do you suppose,” she asked, in conclusion, 
that I shall allow the poor girl to throw herself away 
upon you when a few words from me will be enough 
to enlighten, her as to what you really are ? I don’t, for 
my own part, believe that she will accept you; hut if she 
should, I could hardly remain silent.” 

Strahan was not frightened. Threats seldom fright- 
ened him; besides which, that particular threat, as he 
perfectly well understood, was unlikely to be carried into 
effect. On the other hand, his blood was stirred, and 
his admiration was greatly excited by the warmth with 
which Marietta expressed herself. If he had doubted 


ON THE BRINK. 


385 


that she loved him, he now doubted no longer; nor did 
he — for the moment — doubt that her love was worth 
any price that she might be pleased to set upon it. 

“ So,” said he, with a slight smile, “ I am accused 
of wanting to marry your sister-in-law. Well, why not? 
It would, of course, be a great match for me, and I see 
no necessity for a man to be in love with his wife. I 
do not quite understand what you mean by perfidy. 
In the first place I have not changed, and shall never 
change, whatever you may have done; and in the sec- 
ond, it can make no difference to you whether I am 
married or single. What do you care! ” 

She murmured something which he did not catch, 
and which she declined to repeat when begged to do so. 
Then, all of a sudden — 

“ Tell me the truth. Marietta! ” he exclaimed, do 
you care what becomes of me or not? It all rests with 
you. There is nothing that I wouldnT gladly resign 
for your sake, nor anything that can he worth having 
if I am to lose you.” 

She began a dignified reply to the effect that she 
cared a good deal what became of Betty, but broke 
down in the middle of it. She was no longer angry 
with the man; for his face and his voice had convinced 
her that he was sincere, and she could not bear to give 
him up. So she faltered; and he was not slow to take 
advantage of her weakness. His arms were round her 
before she could stop him, her head fell forward upon 
his shoulder, and he was kissing her as Lionel had never 
kissed her yet. For an instant she rejoiced in the sur- 
render which was scarcely distinguishable from a tri- 
umph; but only for an instant. In a swift revulsion of 
feeling she repelled him, gasping out: 

Oh, I can’t! — I am not as bad as you think I am 
— I can’t live with one man and love another. We must 
never meet again after this.” 

Unless we meet never to part again,” Strahan re- 
turned. I also am not as bad as you think I am; I 
know how you feel, and I have looked the inevitable 


386 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


consequences of our love in the face. For you it must 
mean the loss of title, fortune, and character; for me 
the abandonment of my present office, salary, and 
career. It is a heavy penalty; but am ready to take 
my share of it. Are you ready to take yours, and be- 
gin life over again with me on the other side of the 
world? ’’ 

She shivered and sighed. The man frightened her 
with his cool, relentless common sense, which had an 
effect of mockery, although he was so evidently in ear- 
nest. She began to make feeble excuses for herself. 
Her husband did not love her; she had no friends; she 
was so miserably lonely! It was wicked, perhaps, to 
love a man who was not her husband; hut things hap- 
pen to one over which one has no control. At least, 
however, she would refrain from ruining the man whom 
she loved. 

You can’t ruin me,” Strahan declared, with a 
smile. I am capable of making a fortune in Australia, 
happen what may, and I mean to make one. The ques- 
tion is whether you are willing to give up as much as 
I am.” 

There is Bob,” she objected faintly. 

He nodded. Well, yes; I didn’t mention the child, 
though I didn’t forget him. It has to he all or nothing. 
Marietta. Which is it to he?” 

He had found it a hard matter to say truthfully 
which he wished it to he; but he had a gambler’s ex- 
ultation in staking his whole future upon the hazard 
of a woman’s decision, and he awaited her reply with 
a composed countenance. 

Her reply, when it came, was a plea for time. She 
had been completely taken by surprise, she said; it was 
necessary for her to think things over quietly and make 
up her mind, if possible, to a step which, when once 
taken, must of course be irrevocable. It is not as if 
I had only myself to consider. That is your case; mine 
is much more complicated.” 

In other words,” observed Strahan, you care for 


ON THE BRINK. 


387 


me a little, but not quite enough to disregard every- 
body and everything else.^’ 

“ Perhaps that is so; I don’t know.” 

And how long am I to wait for your answer?” 

I don’t know,” answered Marietta again. 

“ That is scarcely fair. Suppose I get ^ No ’ for an 
answer some weeks hence ? ” 

You are at liberty to propose to Betty in the . 
meantime, if you choose,” replied Marietta, her lips 
curving themselves into a smile; for she felt very sure 
that he would not do that. 

He returned gravely. So be it. I am not bound, 
nor are you. But I hope, for many reasons, that you 
will not keep me waiting long. Most likely Middlewood 
will ask me to come on here from Chelton. I am not 
over squeamish; still I would a little rather not accept 
hospitality from him again. Do you understand ? ” 

She made a sign of assent, and asked at what hour 
his train left. You won’t mind my saying that I 
should like you to go away now,” she added. “ I can’t 
— it is impossible ” 

“ I suppose it is,” Strahan agreed. Well, if I walk 
to the station and walk slowly, I shall not have very 
long to wait on the platform. May I write?” 

No, please. I will write to you soon — as soon as 
I can. I must ring and tell them that you won’t want 
a carriage.” 

By means of this stratagem she was enabled to take 
leave of her visitor with a formal shake of the hand 
in the presence of the butler — a small assertion of in- 
dependence on her part which he did not grudge her, 
seeing that it was in all human probability the last that 
she would ever attempt with him. 

But what about his own independence, which he 
had virtually surrendered? What about his vanished 
ambitions and his ruined career? Poland Strahan was 
not the man to take such a step as he now contem- 
plated without a distinct comprehension of what it 
must imply, and while he wended his deliberate way 


388 


MAEIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


towards the station he apostrophised his conduct in lan- 
guage more terse than complimentary. Nevertheless, 
he did not exactly repent. He was going to repent, he 
knew; he was as certain to do that as a man who has 
indulged too freely in strong drink is to become sober 
and sorry. But not at once — not, perhaps, for a longish 
time to come. 

Moreover,” said he to himself, with a half laugh, 
I am not across the Rubicon yet, and it remains upon 
the cards that I shall not be asked or allowed to make 
the crossing.” 


CHAPTER XLII. 

NOT CAUGHT YET. 

Strahan, whose mental vision was unclouded and 
who was under no illusion as to his feelings, actual or 
prospective, foresaw that he was bound, sooner or later, 
to tire of the woman whom he loved. Marietta, though 
much less clear as to what she wanted or expected, per- 
ceived, nevertheless, that she had made what might 
prove to be a terrible mistake, and after her lover had 
left her, she spent a long time in vainly wishing that 
she had not sent for him. She had not, to be sure, 
promised to run away with him; she remained, in a 
manner of speaking, free; but she had confessed her 
love, and — she had allowed the man to kiss her. She 
shuddered slightly at the recollection, which surely 
would not have been so distasteful to her if she had 
really loved the subject of her perplexed meditations. 

“ Whether I go to him or not,” she thought, I 
can never undo what has been done; and even if no- 
body else ever knows, he will always know that I have 
disgraced myself! ” 

The poor woman, it will be observed, scarcely knew 


NOT CAUGHT YET. 


389 


her world, and some readers who have hitherto enter- 
tained a low opinion of her may now, in view of the 
extreme severity with which she judged herself, he will- 
ing to throw her a crumb of amused pity. Nobody, of 
course, can he expected to sympathise with her; for 
her nature was so queer and so ill-regulated that she 
was quite incapable of distinguishing between right and 
wrong — which is simply unheard of. 

She could, however, distinguish between what was 
expedient and what was inexpedient (according to cer- 
tain philosophers, that is another way of saying the 
same thing), and expediency obviously enjoined upon 
her to remain where she was. Only then Strahan would 
marry Betty Mallet. Or, in the event of his being re- 
fused by Betty, he would marry somebody else — perhaps 
love somebody else. Besides, Lionel would escape the 
punishment which was his due. She had persuaded her- 
self that Lionel’s good-natured indifference merited 
punishment, finding in that reflection her own chief 
excuse. It was only when she pictured to herself the 
divorced Lionel contracting a second and a happier alli- 
ance that she almost resolved to send Strahan about his 
business. 

Thus through the night and the whole of the en- 
suing day she wavered and doubted, striving without 
success to solve a problem which was in truth one of 
elementary simplicity. Setting aside religious principle 
and domestic affection — as she had practically done 
from the outset — ^the only question for her to consider 
was whether she loved Strahan enough to resign a coro- 
net and a big income for his sake; but matters struck 
her as being a good deal more complicated than that. 
Bob was made the recipient of abrupt and unwonted ca- 
resses, which he appeared to find a little disconcerting; 
the carriage was twice ordered and twice sent away; 
finally, a telegram was despatched to Lionel at New- 
market, requesting him to return as soon as he con- 
veniently could. 

Now when, in prompt obedience to this summons. 


390 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


his lordship arrived, his first words naturally enough, 
were an inquiry what was the matter; and, on being 
told that nothing was the matter, he not less naturally 
exclaimed, “Then why the deuce — but never mind! I 
suppose you did want me for something?^’ 

“ I did not want to put you to any inconvenience,” 
Marietta replied; “ I particularly said that you were 
only to come hack as soon as you conveniently could.” 

“Yes; hut one hardly knew what that meant. Is 
the boy all right? ” 

“ Perfectly right. I am sorry to have brought you 
home in such a hurry and against your will.” 

“ Oh, that’s of no consequence,” answered Lionel, 
who had been done out of a rather interesting day’s ra- 
cing and had had something of a fright into the bargain; 
“ only I don’t quite understand yet why you tele- 
graphed.” 

She shrugged her shoulders. “ I was lonely,” she 
said. “ In order to know what loneliness really means 
one should spend a short time in a house of this size, 
surrounded by a swarm of silent servants.” 

“ I am very sorry; I shouldn’t have gone away if 
I hadn’t thought that you wished to he left alone. But 
I didn’t think that could have been your only reason; 
there was something else, surely.” 

“Was there? Well, perhaps there was. Nothing 
of much importance though. Mr. Strahan came over 
from Chelton the other day and lunched with me.” 

“Did he? I hope you asked him to transfer him- 
self here as soon as he had finished his visit to granny.” 

“No; I didn’t do that; I fancy that his visit to 
Lady Maria may last rather a long time. That was what 
I wanted to say to you. You wouldn’t very much like 
him to be your brother-in-law, would you? ” 

“ No,” answered Lionel decisively, “ I shouldn’t. 
Not that I have any power to prevent Betty from pleas- 
ing herself; hut I confess that I would rather not see 
her married to Strahan. Do you mean that there is a 
chance of her doing anything so foolish?” 


NOT CAUGHT YET. 


391 


Marietta read extracts from Lady Gosport’s letter 
and implied, though she did not actually say, that 
Strahan had admitted his intentions. It had been with 
no such motive in her mind that she had called her 
husband away from Newmarket; but that impulsive 
' telegram had to he accounted for somehow, and it oc- 
curred to her that she might at once divert possible sus- 
picion from herself and place an incidental spoke in 
Strahan’s wheel by giving information to the head of 
the family. 

The head of the family, however, did not, upon re- 
flection, see his way to interfere. He remarked very 
sensibly that more human harm than good was likely 
to result from the issue of orders or prohibitions which 
could not be enforced. “ If I know anything of Betty,” 
he added, she will do just exactly what she wants to 
do, with my approval or without it, and I doubt very 
much whether she wants to marry Strahan. I could 
understand his wanting to marry her — though he has 
never breathed a word to me upon the subject — and it 
isn’t impossible that opposition might drive her to ac- 
cept him. But if she is left alone, I quite hope and 
believe that she will send him flying. Anyhow, it isn’t 
a question to deal with by letter, and I can’t manage 
to see her just at present, because I have got to go up 
to London, unfortunately, in a day or two.” 

“ For long? ” asked Marietta, in somewhat dismayed 
accents. 

“No; only for about a week, I think. I am very 
sorry to be obliged to leave you again so soon; but it 
can’t very well be helped. When your telegram arrived, 
I was upon the point of writing to ask whether you 
would care to come up with me. I suppose you 
wouldn’t? ” 

“ I would rather go anywhere on earth than spend 
another week here all by myself! ” exclaimed Marietta, 
with unexpected vehemence. But perhaps,” she went 
on, “ you would not care to be bothered with me. Per- 
haps i should be in your way.” 


392 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


To be jealous of a husband whom you contemplate 
abandoning is doubtless illogical; but Lady Middle- 
wood’s sentiments were not trammelled by the hard and 
fast rules of logic, nor was she disposed to acquiesce 
tamely in a departure for which no pretext had been 
vouchsafed to her. Many smart ladies frequent New- 
market at certain seasons of the year, and why should 
not one of them have made an appointment with a good- 
looking young nobleman whose melancholy and dis- 
contented wife chose to leave him to his own devices? 
But there was no suggestion of conscious guilt in Lio- 
nel’s honest eyes, and it was impossible to doubt that 
he was speaking the truth when he replied: 

You could never be in my way. Marietta; I should 
like to have you always with me, if I could. Surely 
you must know that.” 

‘‘ You don’t always behave as if you wished to have 
me with you,” she remarked, letting her eyelids drop. 

Don’t I? I suppose that is because I am afraid 
of being a bore — or rather because I know that I often 
am a bore.” 

Ah, that is such an easy way of putting yourself 
in the right! ” 

“ It’s true, at all events, and I didn’t say it to make 

you appear in the wrong. But ” He paused for a 

moment, coloured slightly, and resumed: I’m such an 
awfully bad hand at expressing myself! Only I want 
you to know, once for all. Marietta, that l' am just 
what I was on our wedding day. It’s inevitable, I dare 
say, that time should seem to make a difference; but it 
doesn’t really, and — and when you want me, you’ll find 
me in the old place; I haven’t budged, and I never 
shall. There! — now I’ll stop being sentimental and go 
round to the stables. I hear the chestnut mare has 
been coughing again.” 

Feeling a little foolish, and being in rather a hurry 
to get out of the room, he did not notice the tears which 
were running down his wife’s cheeks. It was perhaps as 
well that he did not notice them; for she was in a con- 


NOT CAUGHT YET. 


393 


dition so nearly hysterical that it would not have taken 
much to draw from her an avowal which might easily 
have had disastrous consequences. Meanwhile, those 
few kindly, embarrassed words of Lionel’s almost had 
the effect of making her resolve to steer clear of disaster. 
She resolved, at all events, to leave for London without 
sending any intimation of her intentions to Chelton, 
and it was with some inward satisfaction that she im- 
agined the long face which Strahan would pull on hear- 
ing that she had gone. 

So Lord and Lady Middlewood betook themselves 
to Arlington-street together and were, after a fashion, 
reconciled, although they had not quarrelled. Such 
temporary reconciliations are not uncommon between 
estranged husbands and wives, and as a rule they only 
serve to emphasise the mute resumption of hostilities 
which is sure to follow. Marietta, however, was for the 
time being pleased with Lionel, while he, noting an im- 
provement in her spirits, did all that he could to foster 
it. They went to a couple of theatres together, and 
enjoyed themselves, and if they were not precisely 
affectionate, they were at least better friends than they 
had been for some months past. 

But a letter which was brought up to Marietta’s 
room with her breakfast after a day or two, reminded 
her somewhat peremptorily that she was not at liberty 
to postpone indefinitely the fulfilment of a certain 
pledge. 

“ If you will tell me nothing else,” Strahan wrote, 
tell me at any rate what this means. When I saw 
you, you were not thinking of leaving home. Why have 
you left? — and how soon may I expect to hear from 
you? It seems to me that I have a right to ask.” 

I am only in London for a week’s shopping,” was 
her reply. Of course I will tell you as soon as I can 
all that you may wish to he told; but I don’t quite 
understand your saying that you have a ^ right ’ to ask 


394 


MAKIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


questions. I am still free, and so are you. Please, burn 
this at once, and don^t write again. I shall he hack at 
Ludworth, in a few days, I helieve.^^ 

She was in no desperate hurry to return to Lud- 
worth, It was quite true that she was busily engaged 
in shopping, and the ordering and trying on of new 
clothes was an employment which never failed to bring 
satisfaction to her soul. Several other ladies of her 
acquaintance were in London on a similar errand and 
were glad to take tea with her and compare notes after 
the fatigues of the day. It was not, of course, a very 
exciting method of passing the time; but it had attrac- 
tions for her which were enhanced by the thought that 
this was perhaps her last experience of them. Not 
without a regretful pang can the power to spend money 
lavishly be renounced by any human being, male or fe- 
male. 

Lionel dined at home every day and sometimes 
lunched. During the intervening hours he was claimed, 
it appeared, chiefly by lawyers and horse-dealers. Of 
course he also had friends to look up; but they were 
friends of his own sex, to whom no exception could 
be taken and whom he brought back with him occasion- 
ally to share an informal meal. Amongst these, one 
evening, was St. Quintin, and so noticeable were that 
young man’s silence and dejection that even the hostile 
Marietta could not help feeling a little sorry for him. 

Is anything the matter with you? ” she asked dur- 
ing dinner, while Lionel was engrossed in discussing 
equine genealogy with a famous owner of thoroughbred 
stock. “ You neither eat nor drink, and you look so 
forbidding that one hardly dares to speak to you.” 

I beg your pardon,” said St. Quintin, rousing him- 
self out of a dismal reverie; I am afraid I am even 
more dull and stupid than usual. The fact is that I 
have been working rather hard since my holiday came 
to an end, and one’s work isn’t always satisfactory.” 

"‘Nor one’s holidays either,” Marietta remarked. 


NOT CAUGHT YET. 


395 


^‘Well, no; very often they are not. It’s an un- 
satisfactory world, Lady Middlewood, for most of us. 
Not for you, though.” 

“How can you possibly tell?” returned Marietta. 

Many people would be glad to change places with me, 
no doubt, and hundreds would think themselves lucky 
to he private secretary to a Cabinet Minister, as you are. 
What does that prove ? ” 

St. Quintin was fain to admit that it did not prove 
much; but pressure on his neighbour’s part failed to ex- 
tract from him more specific admissions. Not to her 
had he any intention of confessing the sources of his 
dissatisfaction with mundane affairs. To Lionel, how- 
ever, he did subsequently venture upon a partial ac- 
knowledgment of the truth. He and his friend were 
smoking their post-prandial cigarettes alone, the rac- 
ing man having hurried away to keep an appointment 
elsewhere, and, in reply to a remark of Lionel’s, St. 
Quintin said: 

“ Yes, I dare say I look worried; Lady Middlewood 
has been telling me that I do. How is one to avoid 
being worried by — by things in general? One thing 
which ought to worry you, though it doesn’t seem to 
do so, is this affair between your sister and Strahan.” 

“ My dear fellow, there is no affair that I know of. 
Marietta pretends that there is; but even if she is right 
— which I doubt — will you tell me what I can do? For 
any power or authority that I possess, Betty may marry 
a crossing-sweeper to-morrow.” 

“ You know very well that you would not allow her 
to marry a crossing-sweeper. You exerted your author- 
ity promptly enough in the case of Lord Charles Joce- 
lyn, who is an angel from Heaven by comparison with 
Strahan.” 

“ Ah, that’s where you and I differ. I don’t say 
that I am exactly eager to welcome Strahan into the 
family ” 

“Good Lord!” interjected St. Quintin, “I should 
think not! ” 

26 


396 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


No; but for all that, I should greatly prefer him 
to a useless, self-indulgent beggar like Charlie Jocelyn. 
Strahan, at all events, is a man, and I must say that I 
have always found him a very honest and straightfor- 
ward man.’^ 

Wm\” 

Oh, I know you don’t think so ; but aren’t you 
just a little bit prejudiced? You never did like Strahan 

even in the old days, and latterly ” 

Don’t laugh!” interrupted St. Quintin; ^^it isn’t 
a laughing matter. You have guessed, I see, what a 
lunatic I am; but, hang it all! don’t trample upon a 
poor devil who would be as sane as you are if he only 
could.” 

My dear old man,”- Lionel made haste to reply, I 
am not laughing. I really didn’t know — granny said 
something; but one never pays much attention to what 
she says, and if you mean that Betty has refused you, 
she has refused one of the best fellows in England. I 
am very sorry for it.” 

“ She hasn’t had the chance of refusing me,” St. 
Quintin returned. Did you imagine that I had had 
the impudence to offer myself to her?” 

'' Well, you seem to think that Strahan has had that 
impudence— or is going to have it. Considering that 
your blood is at least as good as ours, I eonfess I don’t 
quite see where the impudence comes in.” 

St. Quintin stretched out his big, bony hand to grip 
that of his friend. “Thanks,” said he; “it is gener- 
ous of you to speak like that; although — of course we 
have come down in the world, while you and yours have 
risen a long way above us. But she wouldn’t have 
looked at me if I had been a duke. There’s no use in 
thinking about that; only there may be some use in 
trying to preserve her from Strahan’s clutches.” 

“Well, I can tell her that in my opinion Strahan 
is so far from being her equal by birth that she ought 
to look upon him as impossible. That really is my 
opinion; though it is the sort of thing that one doesn’t 


NOT CAUGHT YET. 


397 


particularly like saying. But I don’t for one moment 
believe that she will listen to me. That is, if she cares 
for the man.” 

But you might say rather more than that, I think. 
You might truthfully say that he is an arrant scoun- 
drel.” 

“ No, old man; I couldn’t say that. In the first 
place, it isn’t what I think, and in the second, I should 
naturally be asked to prove my accusation. Where are 
the proofs? ” 

Where indeed? St. Quintin could only sigh and 
hark back to the old story of Maggie Field’s suicide, 
which certainly — so far as the facts were known — did 
not prove Strahan to be a scoundrel. Any reference 
to his behaviour towards Marietta or his possible com- 
plicity in the murder of Colonel Vigne was, of course, 
out of the question, and soon afterwards St. Quintin 
left Arlington-street with a heavy heart. There was 
nothing more to be said, nor anything more to be done, 
he told himself. 

Turning the corner into St. James’s-street, he ran 
against a shabby-looking loafer, to whom he made a 
hasty apology. But the loafer, instead of getting out 
of the way, stretched forth a tremulous, detaining hand, 
and said hoarsely: 

“ Mr. St. Quintin, I — I — don’t you know me ? ” 

He turned down his coat-collar and drew a little 
nearer to a gas lamp, by the light of which St. Quintin 
scrutinising him exclaimed: 

Good Heavens! it’s — surely it isn’t — Brydon?” 

All that’s left of him,” replied the other with a 
short laugh — “and that’s devilish little, I can tell you! 
I don’t suppose any poor wretch since the world began 
has had such luck as I have had! ” 

“ I never believed that you were guilty in that busi- 
ness, you know,” said St. Quintin. 

“ You didn’t? Well, it’s a fact that I wasn’t guilty, 
and only a short time ago I could have proved my inno- 
cence. Now, by the most extraordinary mischance, I 


398 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


can prove nothing at all; for who would he likely to 
take my word? ” 

“ I should,” answered St. Quintin quickly. I 
would take your word rather than Strahan’s any day.” 

Brydon^s trembling fingers were raised irresolutely 
to his mouth. Look here,” he whispered; “if I tell 
you something, will you swear not to get me into trou- 
ble? I^m as innocent as a baby, and I’m sure I don’t 
hold much to life; still I don’t want to he hung, you 
know. Damn it all! a man don’t want to he hung.” 

“ There isn’t the faintest possibility of that,” St. 
Quintin declared, thinking only of Maggie Field’s death; 
“ don’t talk such nonsense. Well, what have you to tell 
me? ” 

“ Oh, I can’t tell you here; it’s so infernally cold, 
and I must have a drink first. Do you think we could 
get a room to ourselves at some public ? ” 

“ Come home with me,” said St. Quintin, “ and I’ll 
give you some hot whiskey and water, if that will do.” 

Brydon’s eyes glistened. “ Thank you,” he an- 
swered; “ that will do first-rate! ” He added, in forlorn, 
whimpering accents, as if the idea had just occurred 
to him, “ I believe I’m hungry too.” 


CHAPTER XLIII. 

DUTCH COURAGE. 

A COLD pigeon pie was discovered in St. Quintin’s 
rooms, upon which his out-of-elhows visitor fell wolfish- 
ly. IJnstinted grog completed the restorative process, 
and at the end of a quarter of an hour Brydon, after 
fetching a long sigh of contentment, declared himself 
ready to proceed to business. 


DUTCH COURAGE. 


399 


Mr. St. Quintin/’ he began, has it ever occurred 
to you to wonder who killed Colonel Yigne?” 

Ever occurred to me to wonder! ” exclaimed St. 
Quintin impatiently. ''Why, God bless my soul! we 
have been moving heaven and earth for months past to 
discover the murderer, and so far we have discovered 
nothing at all. Are you going to tell me that you know 
him ? 

Brydon nodded solemnly and emphatically. " I was 
present on the occasion, and I saw the fatal blow struck,’^ 
he replied. 

" The devil you did! Then why, in the name of 
wonder, have you held your tongue all this time ? ” 

" That I will explain presently. What I wish to 
say first, and what I dare say you will not be sorry to 
hear, is that Strahan was the assassin. I was concealed 
in the brushwood hard by when he met Colonel Yigne 
and when an altercation took place between them. It 
was the poor old gentleman’s own fault, one may say; 
he should never have attacked a man so much younger 
and stronger than himself. Besides, thanks to my im- 
prudence, he had letters of which it was simply essential 
that Strahan should get possession, and he was foolish 
enough to produce them. I assure you it was all I 
could do to keep still when he acted in that insane way 
— because the letters were my property; they hadn’t 
been paid for, worse luck! I foresaw that they would be 
snatched away from him, and of course they were. Then 
he must needs fly at Strahan’s throat, and he dropped 
his stick, which was immediately made use of to break 
his head. In all my life I have never felt more miser- 
able or more disgusted! It was the stupidest ” 

"You saw all this?” interrupted St. Quintin; "you 
are prepared to swear that you saw it? ” 

" To you I am; I don’t know about facing cross- 
examination in a court of law. That fellow has the 
devil’s own ingenuity; it wouldn’t be difficult for him 
to throw suspicion upon me.” 

"Well,” observed St. Quintin, "I can understand 


400 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


that twelve average Englishmen might find it hard 
to believe that any man could look on at a cold-blooded 
murder and never raise a finger to help the victim/^ 

Brydon began to whimper. Oh, if you’re going to 
take up that tone! ” 

St. Quintin realised that he had better not take up 
that tone, and repressed a strong desire to kick his in- 
formant. “No doubt,” said he, “ you have some ex- 
planation to give of what at present looks inexplicable. 
What were these letters of which you speak? So far, 
you haven’t cleared up the mystery at all.” 

“ You haven’t given me time,” returned the other, 
in injured accents. “ I’ll tell you all about it, if you 
will kindly have a little patience; but please don’t jump 
down my throat like that again; my health won’t stand 
it.” 

He received as civil an apology as St. Quintin could 
bring himself to utter, and proceeded to narrate the tale 
with which he had once gladdened Colonel Vigne’s ears, 
adding an account of the circumstances under which 
he had placed valuable and irreplaceable documents in 
the hands of that too impetuous warrior. 

“ I ought not to have parted with them before get- 
ting the money,” he confessed ruefully; “ I shall never 
cease to regret having done so. But the Colonel repre- 
sented to me that it was of great importance to him 
to have them at once, and naturally he hadn’t £350 in 
his pocket. He gave me an I. 0. IT. for the amount, 
and promised to pay within a week. How could I fore- 
see that he would go and get himself killed and robbed 
by the man who he had it in his power to crush?” 

“It must have been very disappointing for you,” 
said St. Quintin grimly. 

“It was heartbreaking, sir! I don’t believe such a 
thing could have happened to any living being but me! 
And I was utterly helpless.” 

“ So it appears. May I ask what you did after you 
had quietly looked on at a cowardly crime?” 

“ Oh, I stole away as noiselessly as I could, and as 


DUTCH COURAGE. 


401 


soon as I was out of the copse I ran for my life. I don’t 
know what you call looking on quietly, Mr. St. Quin- 
tin; you must remember that there wouldn’t have been 
an atom of use in my attempting to interfere. Just 
look at me! ” he added, holding out his shaking hands; 
am I the sort of man to take part in a fray? ” 

St. Quintin grunted. Not with much effect, I sup- 
pose; still I wonder at your not having tried, and I 
wonder even more that you didn’t at once give informa- 
tion to the police. Why on earth didn’t you? ” 

Because I was afraid. You don’t understand that; 
hut then you don’t know what it is to be totally demoral- 
ised. Suppose I had rushed out and tried to hack up 
the Colonel — what would have happened? Why, sim- 
ply that Strahan would have killed me into the bargain.” 

I think not,” said St. Quintin; he certainly 
would not have wished to have two corpses to account 
for. However, we’ll assume, if you like, that your anx- 
iety to keep a whole skin justified you in taking to 
your heels. All the same, I don’t see your motive 
for fiying the neighbourhood. Probably you were the 
mysterious Brown for whom we sought high and low 
without success?” 

Brydon signified assent. I have told you,” he said, 
‘^that I was, and am, a demoralised being. You, of 
course, wouldn’t have run away, and most people 
wouldn’t have run away. But I did, because, for one 
thing, I am a coward, and because, for another, I knew 
that that man’s infernal ingenuity was quite equal to 
putting a halter round my neck. I should have told my 
story and he would have told his — which of us, do you 
think, would have been believed? The letters were in 
his hands — he lost no time in burning them, you may 
be sure — and I hadn’t another particle of evidence. So 
I considered it best to make myself scarce, and as I 
had a little money left out of the trifle which Colonel 

Vigne had paid me on account, I ” 

Spent it on drink?” suggested St. Quintin. 

Just so. I spent every blessed penny of it in that 


402 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


way, except what my bill at the inn and a third class 
ticket to Manchester cost me. I was so sickened and 
disheartened that I wanted to drink myself to death; 
but the benevolence of the public won’t allow useless 
members of the community to snuff themselves out now- 
adays. I was picked up I don’t know where and taken 
to the hospital, where I had a bad bout of the terrors. 
By the time that I was discharged, nominally cured, 
the police were off my track, I believe; but it wouldn’t 
have been safe to linger in that part of the world, I 
made my way up to London, and here I have been ever 
since — thinking things over.” 

“ And wishing, no doubt, that you hadn’t been such 
a fool.” 

“Well, I have been wishing very much to be even 
with Strahan. But for that, I shouldn’t have been 
lying in wait for you or Lord Middlewood so long, and 
I certainly shouldn’t have made the statement which 
you have Just heard. It has no support beyond my 
bare assertion, you see.” 

“You haven’t a scrap of documentary evidence?” 

- “ Absolutely none; that’s the cruel part of it! Those 
letters would have been worth anything; but we may 
take it as certain that they have been destroyed. I’ll 
tell you what I have got, though it isn’t exactly docu- 
mentary evidence, and that is Colonel Vigne’s I. 0. U. 
for the balance of the sum which he agreed to pay me. 
Here it is for you to look at. I have complete confi- 
dence in your honour, Mr. St. Quintin, you see; I don’t 
mind letting this bit of paper out of my hands, in spite 
of my atrocious experiences.” 

Brydon had been replenishing his glass at inter- 
vals during the above conversation; it was evident that 
he was now in a condition to bestow the honour of his 
confidence upon anybody. St. Quintin, with a side- 
glance at the man’s flushed cheeks, pushed away the 
whiskey decanter and examined the dirty fragment of 
paper held out to him. Upon it was inscribed in pen- 
cil a promise, signed by Colonel Vigne, to pay to George 


DUTCH COURAGE. 


403 


Brydon the sum of £344 16s. U., being the amount 
due, in excess of that already paid, for certain letters, 
addressed by Mr. Roland Strahan to the late Maggie 
Field and delivered by the aforesaid George Brydon to 
the subscriber. 

This,’^ observed St. Quintin, “ is undoubtedly 
documentary evidence, and I should say that it might 
prove to be of great importance. It supplies a motive 
for the murder, and it also, I presume, explains your 
presence at the time when the murder was committed. 
You went to the copse, I take it, to claim your money.” 

'' Well, no; the time wasn’t up yet, you see. But 
that’s neither here nor there. If you want to know 
what took me to the copse, I don’t mind telling you. 
I went there because I rather expected Strahan and 
Lady Middlewood to meet by chance in that place. 
They had met by chance near there on the previous 
day, and I had overheard something of what passed be- 
tween them. So I thought there would be no harm 
in my hearing or seeing a little more.” 

Brydon accompanied this information with a grin 
and a vinous wink, which won him no additional favour 
in the eyes of his interlocutor. 

You mean, perhaps,” said the latter, that you 
were in hopes of being able to levy blackmail upon Lady 
Middlewood, as well as Colonel Vigne?” 

Come now, Mr. St. Quintin, you can’t say that 
the very trifling sum which was all that Colonel Vigne 
would agree to pay me came under the head of black- 
mail. Strahan, I make no doubt, would have paid me 
twice or three times as much for those letters; hut I 
was willing to sacrifice my own interests for the sake 
of seeing justice done. As for Lady Middlewood, she 
wouldn’t have found me extortionate. I would have 
been as silent as the grave for ” 

Oh, that will do! ” interrupted St. Quintin, whose 
patience was exhausted. It makes no difference to 
me or to the matter in hand what your dirty schemes 
may have been; but please understand this: if you 


404 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


breathe one wood before the magistrates or elsewhere 
against Lady Middlewood’s character, I shall be under 
the necessity of giving you such a hiding as you won’t 
forget in a hurry. You neither saw nor heard anything 
that could possibly compromise her, and that you are 
prepared to swear. Do you see? ” 

Now you’re beginning to bully again! ” exclaimed 
Brydon plaintively. It’s rather bad form of you, I 
must say, considering that my last illness has left me as 
Aveak as an infant, and that I never at any time was a 
fighting man. I’m sure I don’t Avant to cast any re- 
flection upon Lady Middle wood’s character; as you say, 
her character hasn’t much to do Avith the matter in 
hand. But Avhen you talk about going before the mag- 
istrates, you advance a little bit too quickly — you do 
really! I haven’t promised yet to go before any mag- 
istrates.” 

I imagine that you Avould, if it were made worth 
your while,” said St. Quintin. 

Well, really, when you come to think of it — haven’t 
I a right to expect that it should be made worth my 
while? I put it to you as a gentleman and a man of 
the Avorld — isn’t it only fair that some compensation 
should be made to me for the losses that I have sus- 
tained and the risk that I am expected to run ? ” 

I dare say it is,” answered St. Quintin curtly. 

Anyhow, I believe I may undertake to promise that 
you shall be compensated.” 

Thank you. To Avhat extent, I Avonder? — just in 
round numbers.” 

How can I possibly tell you? Perhaps you had 
better name a sum. I myself am not a rich man; but 
I’ll do what I can, and MiddleAvood, Avho is rich, has 
already offered a reward of £1,000, I believe, to anybody 
who will give information leading to a conviction of 
the murderer. Would double that amount satisfy 
you? ” 

Bry don’s eyes glittered; but he thought it due to 
himself to point out that £2,000 was very far from cov- 


DUTCH COURAGE. 


405 


ering the loss that he had incurred through Strahan’s 
perfidious conduct. That man has ruined me, body 
and soul! he cried. But for him, I might at this 
moment be the prosperous and respected incumbent of 
a good living.” 

Oh, excuse me,” said St. Quintin; I can’t think 
that under any circumstances you would have been re- 
spected. Prosperous of course you might have been, 
if you had taken the pledge; only that doesn’t happen 
to be any business of ours. We don’t propose to take 
over Strahan’s liabilities; we merely offer — at least, I 
suppose I may say that Middlewood and I offer — ^to pay 
you for giving the evidence that vou can give.” 

And to protect me from the possible consequences 
of giving evidence?” 

Well, 1 hardly know what you mean by that.” 

Prosecution for perjury, my dear sir — or even 
being placed upon my trial for murder. You must bear 
in mind that this will he simply a case of hard swear- 
ing, one side against the other, and that scoundrel is 
quite capable of turning the tables against me. There 
is that I. 0. U. of Colonel Vigne’s, to be sure; hut it 
won’t prove that I am speaking the truth, and it will 
certainly tell against me that I ran away, whereas Stra- 
han stood his ground. All these things have to he con- 
sidered.” 

St. Quintin shrugged his shoulders. He did not see 
how he, or Lionel, or anybody else could protect the 
informer against the danger alluded to; hut he ex- 
pressed his personal conviction that it was an imaginary 
one. Anyhow,” he added, “ it can’t be shirked now. 
The best plan will be for you to go round to Scotland 
Yard with me to-morrow morning, and make your 
statement. Then we shall he told what step to take 
next.” 

But the mere mention ’of Scotland Yard caused 
Brydon (who had made several ineffectual grabs at the 
whiskey decanter, which was beyond his reach) to shiver 
from head to foot. He was not going to put himself 


406 


MARIETTA'S MARRIAGE. 


in the power of the police, he declared; he ought not 
to he asked or expected to do such a thing. Why, 
you yourself said that it would, be difficult to convince 
an average jury of the truth of my story.’’ 

Well, I hadn’t heard the whole story when I said 
that. I think now that your motives may be made 
comprehensible, and I certainly don’t think that you 
have anything to fear from the police. Besides, I can’t 
conceive what alternative course you would suggest.” 

To begin with, I would suggest consulting Lord 
Middlewood,” said Brydon. 

For a moment St. Quintin was inclined to agree; 
but he reflected that Lionel, who liked Strahan and 
hated a coward, would probably prove sceptical, and 
also that he might inform his wife, who could not be 
relied upon- to abstain from conveying information to 
the accused. So he shook his head and said: 

Better not! You don’t want Strahan to escape, 
I suppose, and what you said just now about him and 
Lady Middlewood — though there isn’t the slightest 
foundation for your suspicions — shows that you are 
aware of their being upon terms of intimacy.” 

“You think the lady would give him the tip to 
bolt, eh ? ” 

“ I’m sure I don’t know; but what everybody knows 
is that the fewer people who are admitted into a secret 
the better chance there is of its being kept. Come, 
Brydon, you were a— a decent enough sort of fellow 
once upon a time, I dare say; pluck up your courage, 
and I’ll see you through! ” 

“ I haven’t got any courage,” answered the miserable 
man. 

“ Then find some! ” returned St. Quintin impatient- 
ly, and pushed the decanter towards him. 

If courage was not discoverable there, something 
which answered the purpose almost as well was, and 
half an hour later the rather unpleasant privilege of 
putting his disreputable visitor to bed devolved upon 
St. Quintin. 


THE PHILOSOPHIC LOSER. 


407 


It wouldn’t have done to let the fellow go away,” 
he mused; the chances are that I should never have 
set eyes upon him again. And a pretty sort of witness 
he will be, at the best! All the same, I don’t see how 
they can get past his evidence. The only question is 
whether I shall be able to drag him to Scotland Yard in 
the morning.” 

This turned out to be an easier matter than might 
have been anticipated. Brydon awoke, frightened and 
partially stupefied; yet resigned, as he had been all his 
life long, to the dictates of a will stronger than his own. 
He said little, signified his willingness to do as he was 
told, and shortly after breakfast was marched off towards 
his appointed destination, arm in arm with the tri- 
umphant St. Quintin. 


CHAPTER XLIV. 

THE PHILOSOPHIC LOSER. 

I HOPE,” said Lady Maria Halsted very amiably, 
that you will stay as long as you can put up with our 
dull society and our jog-trot way of life. The longer 
the better, so far as Betty and I are concerned, I’m 
sure! We are only too charmed to have you.” 

This gratifying assurance was conveyed to Mr. Stra- 
han one morning after breakfast, when he had requested 
an audience of his venerable hostess for the purpose of 
asking whether he might trespass upon her hospitality 
until the end of the week. Lady Maria, who received 
him in the cosy little sitting-room upstairs where she 
always breakfasted, was of opinion that his request im- 
plied rather more than was apparent upon the face of 
it, and was quite ready to bestow her blessing upon 
him. Betty must marry somebody, and she was pos- 
sessed by an altogether erroneous idea that eligible 


408 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


young men would now prove rather shy of offering mar- 
riage to Betty. So she smiled and nodded her old head 
knowingly, adding, If you don’t believe me ask my 
granddaughter.” 

Strahan said what the occasion required and with- 
drew. He was not disinclined to take the advice offered 
to him; only it was necessary that he should hold coun- 
sel with himself and carefully consider his position be- 
fore doing so. The latter had been altered, or at all 
events rendered susceptible of alteration, by certain 
communications which that morning’s post had brought 
to him. The company’s affairs were not, and had not 
for some time past been prospering; it was suspected 
that there had been a good deal of mismanagement, and 
the directors thought it very desirable that the interests 
of the shareholders should be looked after on the spot 
by a thoroughly efficient man. The duties which Stra- 
han had hitherto been discharging in London might, 
they considered, be safely delegated to somebody else; 
but they knew of no one so admirably qualified as he 
to proceed to the Antipodes and assume control of 
affairs there. He was offered a considerable increase 
of salary, and was given to understand that, in the 
event of his accepting this proposition, he would be ex- 
pected to take up his permanent residence in Aus- 
tralia. 

Now, the above intimation obviously opened out 
fresh prospects and possibilities. Strahan believed him- 
self to be almost indispensable, and his directors seemed 
to share that belief. Consequently, it might be assumed 
that so long as he continued to serve them well — and 
especially if his services should be performed on the 
other side of the globe — they would not deem it their 
business to inquire too closely into any little private 
irregularities of which he might be guilty. In other 
words, the majority of them would probably be very 
much shocked iDy such a scandal as Lady Middlewood’s 
elopement, but would prefer to prove how scandalised 
they were by some other method than by the sacrifice 


THE PHILOSOPHIC LOSER. 


409 


of large sums of money. There would be a row, no 
doubt, and Lionel would most likely resign liis director- 
ship; but the delinquent would hardly be punished by 
dismissal. 

“ It makes a difference,” Strahan mused; one may 
almost say that it makes all the difference. For what- 
ever Marietta may think, she is not the woman to stand 
roughing it, and I — well, I suppose I am not the man 
to stand living very long with a discontented woman.” 

He was not the man to stand living very long with 
any woman; and of this he was, at moments, fully aware. 
But there were other moments — there had been many 
such of late — when he felt that existence without one 
woman in particular would be intolerable, and that she 
must at any cost be his. His ardour had been naturally 
stimulated by Marietta’s hasty flight to London and 
by her curt reply to his letter; for the significance of 
her conduct was not lost upon him. Evidently, she 
would throw him over, if she could persuade herself to 
do so; she was even now trying hard to throw him 
over; and of course the more she thought about it all 
the more like she was to succeed. 

Well,” resumed the cogitator, she makes a point 
of it that we are both free, and, that being so, I am 
entitled to take the initiative, if I please. I may re- 
ject her, instead of being rejected by her — and a colos- 
sal fool I shall be if I don’t! To think that one should 
hesitate for an instant! I decline to leave the coun- 
try; I retain my secretaryship for a time; I marry a 
charming young lady of great wealth; by and by I enter 
Parliament; I have all the excitement of being an active 
politician and all the fun that is to be had from un- 
limited sport — why, it’s downright criminal to turn 
one’s back upon such a prospect! ” 

That was indeed a very accurate expression of his 
sentiments with regard to the matter. He loved Mari- 
etta; yet it was doubtful whether he would ever be 
able to forgive himself for throwing away such a chance 
as falls to the lot of only a very few mortals. He scrib- 


410 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


bled off a telegram to London saying, that in the course 
of a day or two a definite reply should he returned to 
the suggestion which he had received: then he walked 
to the bay-window of the library, where he had been 
sitting, and looked out upon the broad acres which 
must in the natural course of things be Betty’s prop- 
erty ere long. 

The weather had turned cold, the sky was low and 
gray, a gusty wind was driving the fallen leaves across 
the park and ruffling the surface of the lake. But in 
that sheltered basin of the hills things never looked so 
gloomy as they did, for example, at Middlewood, nor 
was it possible to survey the Chelton estate without 
thinking how very nice it would be to reside upon it 
as its virtual master. 

Strahan was idly wondering whether there would 
be much difficulty in getting Betty Mallet to acknowl- 
edge a virtual master, when she swept on a sudden 
within the range of his vision. She was exercising a 
young horse over the grass — he remembered that she 
had mentioned her intention of doing so — and he was 
moved, not for the first time, to genuine admiration 
for her workmanlike ability. Betty never looked to 
greater advantage than she did in the saddle. She had 
that indescribable air of being perfectly comfortable 
and at home there which many notable horsemen and 
horsewomen fall short of acquiring, and she appeared to 
be enjoying herself although the gambols of her high- 
spirited mount had caused her to lose her hat. 

Strahan thought that the least he could do was to 
go and pick it up for her; the utmost that he could do 
would not, unluckily, enable him to fall in love with 
her — which was really ridiculous. But, as he had told 
Marietta in all truth and sincerity, he did not think it 
by any means indispensable that a man should be in love 
with his wife. 

Five minutes later he had found Miss Mallet’s hat 
and had restored it to its owner, who drew rein by his 
side and thanked him for his civility. 


THE PHILOSOPHIC LOSER. 


411 


“What do you think of him?’^ she asked, referring 
to her steed. 

“ He moves well/’ answered Strahan; “ he ought to 
make a nice light-weight hunter, if he can jump.” 

“ Ah, that’s just it,” observed Betty; “ I have put 
him over hurdles, and he flies them like a bird; hut I 
expect he will want a lot of schooling before he can be 
called safe in a country of stone walls and banks, like 
this. He will have to have one or two nasty croppers 
before he finds out that it doesn’t do to fly everything.” 

“ But not with you on his back, I trust,” said Stra- 
han. 

She made a little grimace. “ Somebody must do it, 
and I am so light that there’s no great danger of my 
breaking my bones. Besides, it so happens that every 
full-grown man connected with this establishment is 
the father of a family, and I can’t trust the lads. Mine 
is undoubtedly the least valuable neck upon the prem- 
ises.” 

“ I should have said,” remarked Strahan, “ that it 
was by a very long way the most valuable.” 

“ To whom? Hot to its humble proprietor, I assure 
you. I have come to the conclusion that life isn’t in 
the least a blessing.” 

“ Good Heavens! what can have led you, of all peo- 
ple in the world, to form such a low opinion of your- 
self! ” 

“ Oh, it isn’t of myself; I am right enough. It’s 
the others who, in this way or in that, are so objection- 
able, one and all! ” 

“ As spokesman for the others,” said Strahan, “ I 
beg to express our deep sorrow and contrition. Of 
course we must be objectionable, since you call us so; 
but we really don’t mean to be. At least, I can answer 
for one of us who doesn’t.” 

“ That,” returned Betty, “ isn’t what granny used 
to call a sign of grace in the days when she had a lean- 
ing towards Nonconformity. You ought to have said 
that you were conscious of your failings and would try 
27 


412 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


to correct them. Though, to he sure, that wouldn’t have 
been true.” 

She nodded to him, touched her horse with her heel 
and was off, like an arrow from a bow. What she meant 
he had no idea; but it occurred to him afterwards as a 
possible explanation that she might be provoked with 
him for delaying so long to declare himself. There was 
little or no personal vanity involved in that hypothesis. 
Strahan’s contempt for women was so genuine and so 
deep-seated that a dozen of them might have cast them- 
selves upon their knees before him without making his 
heart throb one beat the more quickly. Still the fact 
remained that Betty Mallet’s neck was an exceedingly 
valuable one, and at a later hour of the day he took 
occasion to repeat to her his strong conviction as to 
its value. 

It was in the library, shortly after luncheon, that 
he initiated a dialogue of which he foresaw the inevitable 
upshot. Lady Maria had gone out driving with a couple 
of old ladies; the few remaining guests who were still 
staying in the house had betaken themselves elsewhere, 
and Betty, curled up in an armchair, with one leg under 
her, was perusing the columns of the Sportsman, when 
she was entreated to run no more such risks as the 
schooling of a young horse implied. 

Dear me! ” said she, after this question had been der 
bated at some length, “ does it matter so much as that ? 

“ It matters so much to me. Miss Mallet,” answered 
Strahan deliberately, ^Hhat if I had the right to issue 
orders to you, you would never mount an unbroken 
horse again. Will you give me that right? ” 

It was a rather unusual method of wording a matri- 
monial offer; but he imagined that it would do as well 
as another, and no doubt he was right. He awaited her 
reply composedly; he could not for the life of him have 
said whether he hoped that it would take an affirmative 
'or a negative form. Consequently, he was in no wise 
cast down when Betty, with a composure equal to his 
own, responded: 


THE PHILOSOPHIC LOSER. 


413 


“ No, thanks; all things considered, I prefer to re- 
main my own mistress. Immensely touched and flat- 
tered, all the same, yon know.” 

Strahan, as in duty bound, said, in a low, sad voice, 
“ I ought not to have had the presumption to expect 
anything else. But I dare say you can understand what 
a blow this is to me.” 

Oh, my dear man, what shocking humbug! Gran- 
ny, for some extraordinary reasons best known to her- 
self, has seen fit to spur you on, and I suppose you 
thought that, after all, an heiress wasn’t to he sneezed 
at. I don’t blame you a bit for that; but I must say 
that you are a much better hand at riding and shooting 
than you are at making love. Not, to tell you the 
truth, that it would have made the slightest difference 
if you had worshipped me; only I am glad to think that 
you can be dismissed without a scar upon your hard 
heart.” 

Strahan, for once, looked a little foolish. He was 
also a little mortifled, as his next words showed. 

“ Isn’t it,” he asked, rather inconsistent to ac- 
cuse me in one breath of being a humbug and a poor 
actor? ” 

^^Not a bit,” answered Betty; “I didn’t call you a 
successful humbug — far from it! If anybody is en- 
titled to claim that distinction, I flatter myself that I 
am; for I need scarcely tell you that I have known for 
some little time what your intentions were, and you 
wouldn’t have declared them, I presume, unless I had 
managed to make you feel sanguine.” 

Strahan did not think that that was an achievement 
to boast about, and he said so with some acerbity. 

Oh, well,” returned Betty good humouredly, we 
won’t quarrel over it, anyhow. I forgive you, and I 
should think you would have no great difficulty in for- 
giving me. Let us part friends, if part we must.” 

He had not contemplated immediate departure from 
Chelton as a necessary result of the reverse which he 
had sustained; but after that hint he could not hesi- 


414 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


tate. From the privacy of his bedroom he presently 
despatched a letter to Arlington-street in which he 
begged Marietta to remain in London a few days longer, 
as he would he coming up at once. 

“ For many reasons, I would much rather meet you 
in town than in these parts,” he told her. I should 
not like to be asked to Ludworth, and I doubt whether 
you would like to ask me. Since I last spoke to you 
I have been enabled to see my way a little more clearly. 
I can now offer, I mean, a little more in the way of im- 
mediate material ease and comfort — which, when all is 
said, does count. But these details are best reserved 
until I can put you in possession of them by word of 
mouth. At the present moment I can only think of the 
joy of seeing you once more and hearing you say — as 
I hope and believe I shall — that you love me. I have 
(between ourselves) had some little difficulty in kick- 
ing myself free from the harness which our good friends 
here have tried to make me wear; but that is now an 
accomplished fact, so there is no need to say any more 
about it.” 

He took it for granted that Betty would not betray 
him, which v^as an instance of his imperfect acquaint- 
ance with feminine character. The perfect acquaint- 
ance with his own character and motives which the girl 
had displayed did not give him much distress; he 
scarcely cared enough about her for that. The loss of 
her fortune, and of what her fortune might have been 
expected to bring, was, of course, a serious one; but 
he had done his best to secure these advantages. It 
would have been impossible to do more, and he could 
look back upon his past behaviour with that modest 
self-approbation which is so indispensable to real con- 
tentment. The future was even more agreeable to con- 
template. Strahan felt pretty sure that the company 
would not, and could not afford to, renounce his serv- 
ices; his ambitions were of a nature which could be 


THE PHILOSOPHIC LOSER. 


415 


gratified almost as well in Australia as in England, and 
— he loved Marietta. 

Oh, it isn’t going to last,” he said to himself; 
everybody knows that that sort of thing doesn’t last. 
But what then? A wise man takes his happiness when 
he can get it, and I don’t see why I shouldn’t be as 
^^PPy possible for two, or even three years. And 
afterwards one will be no worse off than other people; 
one will have precisely the same consolations as remain 
open to the virtuous. It is true that there will always 
be a skeleton— Colonel Yigne’s skeleton — in the cup- 
board; but the key, I take it, is in my pocket, and noth- 
ing is more improbable than that my pocket or the lock 
will ever be picked.” 

During dinner he told Lady Maria how very sorry he 
was that he had no choice but to leave for London the 
next morning, and this intimation was received by her 
with less surprise and dismay than he had anticipated. 
Possibly she had been prepared for it by her grand- 
daughter; in any case, it would have been beneath her 
dignity to look disappointed over the escape of a fish 
which she could not desire to land against his will. 
Moreover, she may have reflected that Mr. Strahan, 
after all, was not a very big fish. 

So sorry you are obliged to curtail your visit,” 
was her reply; but perhaps you will come back to us 
some day. Always delighted to see you! ” 

With that she turned her shoulder towards him. 
Obviously he had ceased to interest her, and such are 
the queer inconsistencies of human nature that he ex- 
perienced a certain vexation and resentment. Betty, 
too, appeared to harbour no sort of ill feeling against 
her mercenary suitor. She took leave of him with a 
hearty shake of the hand and a hope that they might 
come across one another in the hunting-field before the 
winter was over. He was glad that things had fallen 
out as they had done; yet he would have been a little 
better pleased if these ladies had shown some signs of 
being less so. 


416 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


However, it was easy enough to forget them. He 
had practically forgotten them, having many other 
things to think about, by the time that he reached 
the railway station the next morning, and it was not 
with Betty Mallet — nor indeed very much with Marietta 
Middlewood — that this mind was occupied while he 
paced to and fro upon the platform, waiting for the 
up express. In imagination he was a very long way from 
Derbyshire, fighting hard (as he knew that he would 
have to fight) for fame and fortune against hostile fac- 
tions and adverse natural conditions. The country was 
by no means the vast gold-mine that it had been repre- 
sented as being, and he was well aware that to extract 
the gold which he meant to extract from it would de- 
mand all the intelligence and infiuence over his fellow- 
men which he was happily conscious of possessing. 

Recalled suddenly to actualities by a touch on the 
elbow, he wheeled round and found himself face to face 
with a burly, reddish-bearded man whom he at once 
recognised as an inspector of police with whom Lionel 
and he had held numerous conferences. Hard by stood 
an inspector of county constabulary, also known to him 
in connection with recent investigations. 

“ Ah, Mr. Golightly! ” said he, addressing the for^ 
mer, ''back in these parts again. Has anything fresh 
transpired? 

" Yes, sir,” answered the officer rather gruffiy, 
"something fresh has transpired. I am sorry to tell 
you, Mr. Strahan, that we hold a warrant for your ap- 
prehension on a charge of wilful murder.” 

The colour left Strahan’s cheeks; but he was able 
to burst out laughing quite naturally. 

" What rubbish! ” he exclaimed. " Who has made 
such a preposterous charge ? ” 

" The warrant was issued upon a sworn informa- 
tion,” replied the other; " but if you will allow me to 
offer a word of advice, sir, you will ask no questions and 
reserve anything you may have to say until you are be- 
fore the magistrate — even if you don’t reserve your de- 


CONFLICTING EMOTIONS. 


417 


fence then. Because you are certain to be committed 
for trial. Now, if you will come away quietly with us, 
there needn’t he any unpleasantness here.” 

So Mr. Strahan’s luggage went up to London with- 
out him, and remained unclaimed on its arrival at St. 
Pancras. 


CHAPTER XLV. 

CONFLICTING EMOTIONS. 

Although Marietta had requested Strahan not to 
write to her again, it was with no very serious displeas- 
ure that she recognised amongst her correspondence 
one morning an envelope addressed in his handwriting. 
She had not expected, and had hardly wished for, tame 
acquiescence on his part, and so long as his reproaches 
reached her by post, not viva voce, she was prepared to 
receive them complacently. A smile, therefore, rose 
to her lips and eyes while she perused the missive, of 
which a precis has been given above. It would, of 
course, be a simple matter to grant the request con- 
tained therein and to remain a few more days in Lon- 
don; what still continued to be an open question was 
whether it would be possible to return a favourable 
reply to the more momentous request which must needs 
follow. But she inclined to the belief that it would. 
That allusion of his to the prospect of material ease 
and comfort was not without effect upon her, and she 
liked to hear of his having successfully resisted the 
blandishments of Ladv Maria. 

This,” she said to herself, proves at least that 
he is in earnest; and I think I am in earnest too. In- 
deed, I am sure I am! If it were not for my poor little 
Bob! — but Bob is too young to remember or care, and 
Lionel evidently won’t care a straw. Yes; it will be 


418 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


a thousand times better to begin a new life than to per- 
severe with this impossible one.” 

Nevertheless, she paid the tribute of a sigh to the 
renounced life, as she opened another letter from Derby- 
shire, which contained several sheets, inscribed in Betty 
Mallet’s hold, legible fist. 

I dare say you will laugh,” Betty wrote, “ when I 
tell you of the compliment that has been paid to me 
to-day. Mr. Strahan, if you please, has done me the 
honour to offer me his hand, and as much of his heart 
as is not already engaged. I should have called that 
average cheek a few months ago; but one’s indiscre- 
tions and their consequences have made one humble; 
so I dropped a curtsey and said, ^ No, thank you, sir,’ 
as prettily as I could. The funny thing is that granny 
should have egged him on; I suppose she thinks any- 
body is better than nobody. In some ways I really 
rather like Mr. Strahan — though he isn’t exactly what 
you could call a gentleman, is he? — ^but I don’t feel in 
the least disposed to endow him with all my worldly 
goods, and one wonders a little at his having imagined 
that I could be so disposed. However, I told him that 
I forgave him, and I am endeavouring to forgive granny, 
who is now carrying her ears and tail rather low after 
the lecture which it was my duty to read her. The dis- 
comfited swain leaves for London to-morrow morning, 
I hear. My compliments to him and my best wishes 
if he looks you up, as he probably will.” 

A young lady who has received and declined an offer 
of marriage is generally supposed (though perhaps the 
hypothesis does not command universal credence) to 
keep that little experience to herself, and Betty Mallet, 
to do her justice, recognised that honourable obliga- 
tion to the full; hut in the present instance she had 
had reasons of her own for departing from conventional 
rules. It may even he that those same reasons had led 
her to give Mr. Strahan a certain amount of encourage- 


CONFLICTING EMOTIONS. 


419 


ment which might easily have been withheld from him. 
If so her conduct must he considered as justified by the 
event; for Marietta, after having been thus made aware 
of Strahan's perfidy, started to her feet with clenched 
hands and blazing eyes. 

So that was what he meant by claiming his free- 
dom! she ejaculated wrathfully, forgetting that she 
herself had made a similar claim, and that she had even 
reminded him by letter of the nature of their compact. 

He meant all along, then, to marry Betty, if she would 
have him, and now that she will have nothing to say to 
him, he falls back upon me as a pis-aller! Betty is quite 
right; he is not a gentleman. At the bottom of my 
heart I have always known that he was not! ’’ 

Possibly she had; possibly, too, Betty, who was no 
simpleton, had designedly made use of that parenthet- 
ical phrase. In any case, it helped to serve the very 
salutary purpose of making up Marietta’s mind for her. 
It was simply out of the question, she thought, for her 
to love a man who was not a gentleman, and who had 
behaved so utterly unlike one. There was an end and 
a finish of that dream, and she was thankful to have 
been so roughly shaken out of it. She did not wish 
ever to see Strahan again; certainly, she would take very 
good care not to see him on his impending arrival in 
London. 

Her cheeks were still flushed with anger when Lionel 
came in to ask whether she would he ready to return 
to Ludworth on the next day but one. 

I shall be ready to-day,” was her prompt reply. 

No, not to-day, I suppose, because the servants must 
have time to pack; hut to-morrow, anyhow. Let us 
leave by the first train to-morrow.” 

Lionel was afraid that, owing to one or two engage- 
ments, he could not manage that; but he would will- 
ingly issue marching orders, he said, for the following 
morning. He added, looking inquiringly at his wife’s 
perturbed countenance and the letters which she held 
in her hand: 


420 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Has anything put you out? ISTo bad news, I 
hope? 

I don^t know whether it ought to he dignified by 
that name,” answered Marietta, with a short laugh; 

but it is rather irritating sort of news. Betty writes 
to say that Mr. Strahan has had the impertinence to pro- 
pose to her. She has refused him, of course.” 

Oh, well,” said Lionel tranquilly, ‘‘that is only 
what we foresaw, isn’t it? At least, you foresaw that he 
would propose, and I foresaw that, if he did, he would 
he refused. I am sorry for him, but rather glad, I 
must confess, on her account and on my own. Under all 
the circumstances, I don’t think we can call the poor 
fellow impertinent.” 

“ I don’t at all agree with you,” returned Marietta, 
with that sharp, slightly nasal intonation which occa- 
sionally betrayed her Italian origin. “ I think he has 
shown a disposition to be impertinent all along, and 
I hope I shall not be asked to receive him any more 
after this.” 

Lionel raised his eyebrows. “ I can’t quite get at 
your point of view with regard to Strahan,” he re- 
marked. “ One day he is a valued friend, the next 
you want him to he turned away from the door. Is he 
really worth all the trouble that it seems to give you 
to make up your mind about him ? ” 

“ He is worth nothing at all,” Marietta declared, in 
her foolish, impulsive way. 

But she had a husband who, as some may think, 
was almost as foolish as she, seeing that he was a gen- 
tleman and that there is not much use in being a gentle- 
nian nowadays. He replied, without the faintest sus- 
picion as to the cause of her acrimony: — 

“You are too ’hard upon Strahan, Marietta. As a 
man of business he is worth a 'great deal, and I have 
always found him a very pleasant fellow as far as pri- 
vate relations go. Of course, one wasn’t exactly eager 
to welcome him into the family; hut it appears that one 
won’t he called upon to do that, thank goodness! We 


CONFLICTING EMOTIONS. 


421 


aren’t supposed to know that he has offered himself to 
Betty, and we oughtn’t to let our knowledge make any 
difference. Why, after all, should it ? ” 

For a moment Marietta was half inclined to tell 
him why; but she subdued that half inclination. Noth- 
ing was more evident to her than that Lionel was in- 
capable, and would always be incapable, of entering 
into her feelings. So she only said: — 

“ Oh, very well; we won’t make a fuss about it. 
There is no occasion to ask him to stay with us, though, 
I suppose? ” 

Lionel, with a shrug of his shoulders, supposed not, 
and changed the subject. Presently he left the room, 
and ^larietta did not see him again until close upon the 
dinner hour, when he returned home with an air of con- 
siderable agitation and an evening newspaper in his 
hand. 

“ A most extraordinary and unaccountable thing has 
happened,” he announced. I can’t make head or tail 
of it; but I presume the news must be true; Just read 
this.” 

He pointed to a paragraph headed in large type. 

The Middlewood Murder. Startling Develop- 
ments. 

The few lines which followed were, in truth, suffi- 
ciently startling to bring Marietta’s heart into her 
mouth. 

We learn by telegram that Mr. Strahan, a gentle- 
man well known in financial and colonial circles — who, 
it may be remembered, was staying with Lord Middle- 
wood at the time of the recent mysterious tragedy, and 
who was the first to give information of the discovery 
of the murdered man’s body — was arrested at Chelton, 
in Derbyshire, this morning, upon a charge of being 
himself the murderer. The police decline to make any 
statement upon the subject, but it appears certain that 


422 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


evidence of a very surprising and unexpected character 
is in their hands.” 

Do you believe this? ” asked Marietta breathlessly. 

How do you mean ? I believe that poor Strahan 
has been taken into custody; but, of course, I don’t be- 
lieve anything else. Those duffers must have discovered 
some mare’s nest or other.” 

Marietta fell back in her chair. “I wonder what 
they mean by surprising and unexpected evidence,” she 
murmured. 

“ Oh, that, I take it, is only the customary news- 
paper phrase. We shall hear more to-morrow morning, 
no doubt, and in all probability we shall hear that Stra- 
han has been released. But I am very sorry that such 
a thing should have occurred, and — and I think I ought 
to have been told that it was in contemplation.” 

So strongly was Lionel of that opinion that, if he 
had had time, he would have gone to Scotland Yard 
the next day for the purpose of expressing it — espe- 
cially as the morning papers contained no additional 
information relating to the arrest. But he had a num- 
ber of other things to do, and all he could manage was 
to call at the Home Office and inquire for St. Quintin, 
who, he learned, was out of town, his chief also being 
absent. Returning home early in the afternoon, there- 
fore, Lionel told his wife that he had decided, after all, 
to leave for Ludworth at once. 

I think, perhaps, I ought to he upon the spot to 
see what can he done about this stupid business,” he 
said. There may he a question of hail or something. 
You can follow me to-morrow; for, of course, it would 
he impossible for you to get ready on such short no- 
tice.” 

But Marietta begged to be allowed to accompany 
her husband, declaring that it would not take her maid 
ten minutes to put together the few things which she 
would require for one night. 

“ Besides,” she added, I want to know the truth. 


CONFLICTING EMOTIONS. 


423 


It seems to me as incredible that Mr. Strahan can be 
guilty as that he would have been taken into custody 
if he had been innocent.^^ 

The arrest of an innocent person isn’t incredible/’ 
observed Lionel, smiling; “ such mischances are always 
liable to occur in a free country. Still, one does feel 
that the police have been unpardonable idiots in this 
instance, and I shall probably have a word or two to 
say to them about it. Meanwhile, poor Strahan mustn’t 
be left languishing under lock and key on account of 
some absurd mistake.” 

“But can you order him to be released?” Marietta 
inquired. 

“ Well, no; I can’t give orders. But if he hasn’t 
been released already, the chances are that he has been 
remanded, and unless there is some verv strong evi- 
dence ” 

“ The papers say that there is,” interjected Mari- 
etta. 

“ Oh, the papers know nothing about it, beyond the 
mere fact of the arrest. Unless there is some very 
strong primd facie evidence — and there can’t possibly 
be any — I shall be able to get him set at liberty, I im- 
agine.” 

Marietta said no more; but she did not see why the 
existence of strong evidence should be an impossibility. 
That the man who professed to love her and had of- 
fered to take her under his protection should have 
murdered her father did seem to her to be impossible; 
though, if it came to that, the man had, to her certain 
knowledge, done other things which ought to have been 
impossible. She was bewildered and rather frightened, 
having in addition to legitimate causes for disquietude, 
a horrible dread that Strahan might make revelations 
unconnected with the charge brought against him. In 
her ignorance of the ordinary course of English crimi- 
nal procedure, she had visions of an inquisitorial j\ige 
d’instruction and his capacity for eliciting all manner 
of damaging confessions from prisoners. 


424 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


These haunted her throughout the rapid railway 
journey to the north and completely obliterated the 
wrath with which she had heard of her lover^s treach- 
ery. That treachery she contemplated as a far-away, 
insignificant thing — the more insignificant because she 
was now sure that she had never really loved Strahan 
at all. She shuddered at the thought of her narrow 
escape; she shuddered again when she reflected that her 
escape was not yet necessarily complete. Ashamed of 
herself it cannot be said that she was; hut there was 
a chance, not to say a probability, of her being made 
to feel dreadfully ashamed of herself ere long. It even 
occurred to her that there was a chance of her being 
disgraced and banished by a justly incensed husband. 
From time to time she stole a surreptitious glance at 
Lionel, who was frowning over the Racing Calendar, 
Ruffes Guide, The Statesman’s Year Book, and The Re- 
port of the Royal Commissioners on the State of Agri- 
culture, which useful works of reference he had thought- 
fully brought with him to beguile the tedium of the 
way. His sharply cut profile conveyed an impression 
of implacability, she thought; he looked like a man 
who could never commit a shabby or dishonourable act, 
nor ever forgive such an act on the part of a fellow- 
creature. An admirable type, no doubt, in its way; but 
a rather narrow and unsympathetic one. It also struck 
her that he was remarkably handsome. He looked up 
from his studies every now and again to ask her whether 
she had everything that she wanted; to which (not 
without some sense of the irony of the situation) she 
replied that she had. 

“ When I have everything that I want,” she said to 
herself, I shall have taken leave of this unsatisfactory 
little world — et encore ! ” 

At Derby, where they had to change carriages, they 
were met on the platform by a friend, who did not seem 
to be quite overjoyed by an encounter which he had 
evidently not anticipated. He could not, however, re- 
fuse to respond to Lionel’s cry of: 


CONFLICTING EMOTIONS. 


425 


“By George, St. Quintin, you’re the man of all 
others whom I wanted to see! What are you doing 
here? Have you heard anything about Strahan?” 

“ I have just heard him committed for trial/’ an- 
swered St. Quintin. “ That was a foregone conclusion, 
as you will see when you have read an account of the 
proceedings.” 

“ Good Lord! you don’t say so! What about bail? ” 

“ It was not asked for; but I don’t suppose that, 
in any case, it would have been granted. There will 
be a full report in to-morrow’s papers, no doubt, and 
you will understand then that it would have been a 
rather risky proceeding to give the man an opportunity 
of making himself scarce.” 

But Lionel was not inclined to wait until the next 
morning. He caught his friend by the elbow, saying: 

“ Come on to Ludworth with us and stay the night. 
You aren’t in any desperate hurry, I suppose?” 

St. Quintin, looking extremely reluctant, replied 
that he was in rather a hurry. “ But never mind! I’ll 
travel as far as Ludworth with you and come straight 
back here. In that way I shall catch the last express 
for London. Perhaps it is better that you should hear 
all about it from me.” 

A few minutes later, Lionel and Marietta, seated in 
the compartment which had been reserved for them, 
were listening to their companion’s succinct narrative 
of events which he had no small share in bringing 
about. 

“ Brydon’s evidence was irresistible,” St. Quintin 
said. “ At any rate, it seemed so to me, and of course 
no attempt was made to shake it.” 

“ Why of course ? ” asked Lionel quickly. “ I 
should have thought that it might very easily have been 
shaken. The man declares that he actually witnessed 
the murder; yet it is only now that he sees fit to come 
forward; while we know that he made haste to bolt 
from the neighbourhood, where he had been staying 
for some time under an assumed name. I wonder 


426 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


he wasn’t transferred from the witness-box to the 
dock.” 

Well,” said St. Quintin, Strahan’s counsel will 
make the most of all that, I dare say, when the trial 
comes off; hut I should think that he was well advised 
in reserving his defence. He appeared to be perfectly 
cool and to have all his wits about him. Brydon’s flight 
admits of explanation, you see, and it is difficult to 
believe that he himself could have killed a man who 
in the course of a few more days would have paid him 
£ 350 .” 

How does he account for the fact that my poor 
father-in-law’s pockets were rifled?” asked Lionel. 

He wasn’t asked to account for that. His asser- 
tion is that he took to his heels immediately after the 
blow was struck. And personally, I must say that I 
am persuaded of the truth of that and all his other 
assertions.” 

But you hate Mr. Strahan so much that you would 
believe anything in the world against him,” struck in 
Marietta suddenly. “ From what you say, this ex- 
traordinary accusation has been brought quite as much 
by you as by the witness whom you have unearthed. 
Naturally, you must be convinced, or pretend to he con- 
vinced, that the man is speaking the truth.” 

I am as prejudiced as you like to call me. Lady 
Middlewood,” answered St. Quintin submissively; but 
when Brydon came to me and told me what he did, I 
was hound to inform the police. I couldn’t have done 
otherwise.” 

Marietta jerked up her shoulders impatiently. She 
hardly knew what to think or what to hope for; perhaps 
what pressed upon her most for the moment was the 
fear of damaging disclosures and the conviction that St. 
Quintin, who had been more or less openly an enemy 
of hers ever since the distant Bagni di Lucca days, 
would he only too glad to serve her an ill turn. Why 
could he not mind his own business? 

But Lionel hastened to say, My dear fellow, you 


THE CASE FOR THE ACCUSED. 


427 


were perfectly right, and we are very much indebted 
to you. All the same, one may he allowed to look upon 
the testimony of such an informer as Brydon with a 
certain amount of incredulity. Rather more than his 
word, or even his oath, would he required to make me 
accept his statement, I confess. By the way, what has 
become of him?^^ 

He has gone back to London. I should have trav- 
elled with him, only I was detained at the last moment. 
He won’t be lost sight of, though,” answered St. Quin- 
tin, divining Lionel’s thought. 

Well,” observed the latter, we shall not have 
long to wait for the next assizes, fortunately. Mean- 
while, we ought to assume, I think, that Strahan has 
been falsely accused. For my own part, I can’t doubt 
that he has.” 

St. Quintin, being equally unable to doubt the truth 
of the accusation, held his peace, and at the next sta- 
tion he left the train. He was not sorry to escape; for 
Marietta’s hostile criticisms on his conduct embarrassed 
him, and, indeed, it was a fact that, but for his presence 
and support, Brydon would never have plucked up 
courage enough to give the evidence which had led to 
Strahan’s committal. So, although he had done nei- 
ther more nor less than his duty, he was fain to admit 
to himself that he was open to the imputation of vin- 
dictive motives. 


CHAPTER XLVI. 

THE CASE FOR THE ACCUSED. 

Lionel’s first thought, after reaching home, was 
to secure the highest talent obtainable on behalf of his 
unfortunate friend; but this, he learned on inquiry, had 
already been done % Strahan’s solicitors. His next idea 
28 


428 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


was to pay a visit of sympathy and encouragement to 
the accused; and he was surprised at the vehement op- 
position which so natural a wish encountered from Mari- 
etta. She employed every argument, good and bad, 
that she could think of to dissuade him from his 
purpose, and at length, finding these of no avail, im- 
plored him, as a personal favour to herself, to aban- 
don it. 

Oh, I must see him; I couldn’t possibly turn my 
back upon him at such a time,” was Lionel’s decisive 
reply. I am sorry to have to refuse you anything. 
Marietta; but — why should you make a personal matter 
of it? ” 

When he is accused of having murdered my fa- 
ther! ” 

Well, he is falsely accused. Surely you don’t im- 
agine that he is guilty?” 

I imagine all sorts of things; I don’t know what 
to imagine,” she answered — and that was true enough 
— ‘‘but I can’t imagine that your seeing him will do 
any good. And it is not in the least likely that you 
will hear the truth from him. I have always warned 
you — haven’t I? — that he is not to be trusted.” 

“ Sometimes you have. But, as I am neither a judge 
nor a juryman, it really cannot matter very much wheth- 
er I hear the truth or a lie from him. 

Marietta could scarcely venture to say, “ Promise 
me not to believe anything that he may tell you! ” That, 
however, was what she would fain have said, and the 
hours of her husband’s absence on his charitable mis- 
sion were spent by her in an agony of suspense and 
apprehension. A man in Strahan’s desperate plight 
might so easily, she thought, be tempted to involve 
others in his ruin! 

In reality, of course, the very last thing that Stra- 
han was likely to do was to alienate one who would 
assuredly be called as a witness for the defence; nor, 
in spite of what had transpired before the magistrates, 
did he regard his plight as by any means desperate. 


THE CASE FOR THE ACCUSED. 


429 


Lionel found him calm, collected, and, to all appearance, 
in excellent spirits. 

^‘Awfully good of you to look me up, old man,” 
said he; “ but, to tell the truth, I rather expected that 
you would. This is a queer sort of situation for me 
to have got into, isn’t it? ” 

“ It is abominable that you should be in prison,” 
answered Lionel; ‘‘and yet I don’t know that anybody 
can be fairly blamed for it — except, of course, that fel- 
low Brydon. What do you suppose can have been his 
motive for denouncing you? ” 

Strahan smiled. “ One must presume that he doesn’t 
like me, which is really rather ungrateful of him, con- 
sidering that I did my best to get him out of a mess 
almost as awkward as this. But he has evidently be- 
come a dipsomaniac, and it is possible that he may 
be labouring under some hallucination or other.” 

“ Don’t you think that he himself may have been 
the murderer? ” 

“ Well, that also is possible. It seems that poor 
Colonel Vigne promised to pay him a considerable sum 
of money for certain letters, and one conjectures a quar- 
rel, brought about by the non-delivery of the letters on 
the discovery that they were worthless.” 

“According to St. Quintin, they were actually de- 
livered.” 

“ Then what has become of them? I suppose all 
Colonel Vigne’s papers were looked through, after his 
death, were they not?” 

“ Oh, yes; I did that myself, and I can swear that no 
such documents were amongst them. I should be in- 
clined to suspect that he had them about him at the 
time, and that he was deprived of them, either by 
Brydon or ” 

“Or by me, eh?” suggested Strahan placidly. 
“ Well, if Brydon is to be believed, I should have had 
very good reasons for wishing to deprive anybody of 
them; but really I don’t know to what letters he can 
possibly allude. I may have written to Maggie once 


430 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


or twice — ^in fact, I am pretty sure that I did — but I 
can never have written anything of a nature to con- 
nect me with the unfortunate girFs suicide. I only 
wish the letters were discoverable; for, assuming that 
they exist, they would probably tell in my favour. But 
the whole story is such a crazy one that nobody out of 
a lunatic asylum is likely to believe in it.” 

St. Quintin,” observed Lionel meditatively, is 
not a lunatic.” 

Strahan’s face hardened. “ St. Quintin,” said he, 
^‘is, for some reason or other, my enemy. He has 
never let slip an opportunity of trying to do me an in- 
jury; it is solely owing to him that I am where I am 
now, and when I come out we shall have a little account 
to square, he and I.” 

Lionel did not undertake the defence of his absent 
friend. All I meant to say,” he resumed after a few 
moments of silence, was that when it is a case of A.’s 
word against B.^s, A. will probably find as many sup- 
porters as B. — other things being equal.” 

‘‘ But, my dear Middlewood, other things aren’t 
equal. To begin with, I am not an habitual drunkard; 
in the second place, my reputation stands a little bit 
higher than that of my accuser; and in the third place 
I can’t be required to prove a negative.” 

Yes; there is all that against the chance of a con- 
viction — which indeed I don’t for one moment fear. 
What I was thinking of was private opinion. There 
are always, I am afraid, a certain number of people who 
do expect an accused man to prove a negative, and 
won’t be persuaded of his innocence until he does.” 

May I ask whether you mean Lady Middlewood? ” 
inquired Strahan rather sharply. 

Lionel declared that he did not mean any one per- 
son in particular; but his reply was given with a shade 
of embarrassment which was at once detected by his 
questioner, who returned quietly: 

Well, I won’t press the point.” 

Lionel scarcely improved matters by pleading that 


THE CASE FOR THE ACCUSED. 


431 


some allowance ought to he made for the poor old Colo- 
nel’s only child, to whom it had naturally seemed in- 
explicable, all this time, that there should be so much 
difficulty in discovering the assassin. 

“ And you know what women are; it’s hard to con- 
vince them that there can he smoke without fire. Not 
that Marietta believes you to he guilty; her own words 
to me were that she didn’t know what to believe. Only 
I fancy — I may be wrong; hut I fancy she is under the 
impression that you had something of a grudge against 
her father.” 

Or perhaps that he had a grudge against me? ” 
suggested Strahan quietly. 

His tone was a little hitter, and there was a great 
deal of bitterness in his heart. He was clever enough 
to form a tolerably accurate surmise as to the nature 
of Marietta’s feelings, and for the moment he was not 
far from hating the woman whom, after a fashion, he 
loved. He could have pardoned her, had she shrunk, 
when it came to the point, from tempting Fortune by 
fl3dng with him across the seas; he could not forgive 
her for abandoning him (as he perceived that she had 
done) in the hour of his extremity. That he happened 
to be guilty was no excuse; she should have been cer- 
tain of his innocence, and should have proclaimed her 
certitude. Therefore it was that he made the above in- 
terrogative remark, which brought a quick frown to 
Lionel’s brow. 

The latter was aware, indeed, of the misgivings with 
which Colonel Vigne had regarded the intimacy be- 
tween Marietta and Strahan, and he presumed that allu- 
sion was being made to those misgivings — which struck 
him as a piece of rather bad taste. 

My father-in-law could have had no grudge against 
you,” he said drily. 

“ But he had. I don’t blame him for it; no doubt, 
if I had been in his place, I should have felt consider- 
able animosity against a man who knew as much as I 
chanced to know. At the same time, I think the sad- 


432 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


die ought to be put upon the right horse. Under exist- 
ing circumstances, you see, I can hardly afford to have 
it represented that Colonel Yigne was in my way, in- 
stead of my being in his.” 

‘‘I don’t understand you,” said Lionel. 

Of course you don’t, and I assure you that I would 
very much rather remain incomprehensible. But for 
the reason that I have mentioned, I am afraid I must 
speak out. I can’t help thinking it a great pity that 
those who ought to have spoken out long ago should 
have preferred to keep you in the dark. Secrets of that 
kind are hound to he discovered sooner or later, and 
my own conviction from the first has been that you 
would be too just and too generous to blame your wife 
for what, after all, is no fault of hers.” 

This noble exordium led up to the announcement 
of Marietta’s illegitimacy. Strahan truthfully stated 
what had been the source of his own information upon 
the subject, asserted that he had more than once urged 
the late Colonel Vigne to make a clean breast of it to 
his son-in-law, and insinuated, without actually saying, 
that Lady Middlewood herself had been a party to a 
somewhat ignoble deception. That was his method of 
hitting back. It was also, as he had frankly avowed, 
one of his methods of defending himself. 

‘^All this is no particular business of mine, and, 
for choice, I would rather not have been the one to en- 
lighten you,” he repeated, in conclusion; hut at least 
you will see now that, although the poor old gentleman 
might have had some conceivable motive for knocking 
me on the head, I could have had none whatever for 
treating him in that way.” 

Lionel, it must he confessed, received a very dis- 
agreeable shock. He could not doubt the accuracy of 
Strahan’s statement (which explained the otherwise un- 
accountable behaviour of the old Princess in Pome, as 
well as Colonel Vigne’s rather obstinate reticence re- 
specting the past), and there was just enough of aris- 
tocratic prejudice in him to make him wince at the idea 


THE CASE FOR THE ACCUSED. 


433 


of having given his name to a girl who had none of 
her own. But this was a trifle as compared with the 
inference that his wife had deliberately withheld the 
truth from him, and he said decisively: 

One thing is certain: Marietta has never been 
told of this.^’ 

Oh, I should hope not — I should quite hope not,” 
answered Strahan soothingly. And, if she hasn’t been 
told, most likely she never need be. It isn’t a matter 
about which you will care to talk, and I see no reason 
why it should come out at the trial. But I thought 
I was entitled, just between you and me, to clear myself 
of the suspicion at which you hinted.” 

Unquestionably he was so entitled, and Lionel would 
have been rather puzzled to say what it was that at 
once rubbed him the wrong way and shook his faith 
in the man’s veracity. Something undefinable about 
Strahan’s voice and manner, perhaps — something which 
seemed to reveal a cad, if not a liar. 

He pulled himself together, dismissed the subject, 
with the remark that it was not particularly relevant, 
and soon brought his visit to a conclusion. There was 
not, it appeared, very much that he could do for his 
friend; but what he could do should, he promised, be 
done, and, since the assizes were to be held almost im- 
mediately, the prisoner’s period of incarceration would, 
fortunately, be brief. His leave-taking was, in spite of 
himself, a little less cordial than his greeting had been, 
and he was not sorry to be once more out in the open 
air. 

He made his way through the streets with a bent 
head and a rather heavy heart, thinking less of the al- 
leged criminal whom he had just quitted than of the 
painful revelation which had been made to him. He 
had had a genuine respect and affection for the old 
Colonel, and it was not pleasant to reflect that the 
Colonel had deceived him. Still less pleasant was an 
ugly, persistent little suspicion that Marietta might 
have been privy to the deception. But this suspicion 


434 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


he determined to banish from his mind, and did tem- 
porarily succeed in banishing: ’it was an unworthy and 
an unwarranted suspicion, he told himself, despite Stra- 
han’s tolerably evident opinion that there was ground 
for entertaining it. As for the statement itself, that 
must be verified, he supposed; he would have to put 
himself in communication with the Magliacci family 
respecting it, however distasteful such a task might he 
to him. But, the secret no doubt could he, and ought 
to be, kept. Assuming that his wife was ignorant of 
it, there was, as Strahan had said, no need to enlighten 
her. 

Marietta stepped quickly out into the hall to meet 
him, on his return to Ludworth. It was only natural 
that she should he anxious to hear his report; yet her 
bright, wide-open eyes had a look of something beyond 
anxiety in them, while her deadly pallor seemed to in- 
dicate an emotion more poignant than mere curiosity. 

^^Well?’^ she whispered, with hated breath. 

‘‘Well, I have seen him,^^ answered Lionel, “and 
he appears to he sanguine. He is sure to he acquitted, 
I should say; for the unsupported evidence against him 
will hardly he accepted by any jury, and, from what he 
tells me, he can, if he likes, prove that he had no im- 
aginable end to serve by taking your father’s life.” 

“What did he tell you?” asked Marietta eagerly. 

“ Oh, a few things which may he believed or dis- 
believed, and which I would rather not repeat. There 
will be no occasion for them to come out at the trial, I 
hope; hut if they do, it can’t he helped, nor will any- 
body have a right to blame him.” 

“I know what he has told you,” exclaimed Mari- 
etta, “and I warned you not to believe him! But I 
can see that you do. It is false, though — what he said 
about me; he only said it to save his own neck! ” 

In these hasty ejaculations Lionel read the con- 
firmation of his fears. Marietta and he were altogether 
at cross purposes; but he not unnaturally took it for 
granted that they were thinking of one and the same 


THE CASE FOR THE ACCUSED. 


435 


subject, and his wish was to spare her. He said to him- 
self that she had very likely been ignorant of her ille- 
gitimacy at the time of their marriage, that she might 
have been informed of it by Strahan, and that her sub- 
sequent reticence was, after a fashion, excusable. So all 
he said was: 

‘^You are mistaken if you suppose that I accept 
Strahan’s assertions as being necessarily gospel-truth: 
they will have to be substantiated or refuted by and by; 
but they have only an indirect bearing upon his present 
case. And, to do him justice, he refrained from accus- 
ing you of — of actual complicity.” 

Marietta was not reassured. In her heart she had 
always been a little afraid of Lionel, and now his ju- 
dicial calmness alarmed her more than any reproaches 
would have done. How much or how little Strahan 
had revealed she could not guess; but she foresaw that, 
in the event of all the facts coming to light, she would 
be condemned without mercy, and the idea of Such 
condemnation had become appalling to her. 

At any rate,” said she, half-involuntarily, he can- 
not deny that he proposed to Betty.” 

Lionel raised his eyebrows. Why should he? He 
was as much entitled to propose to her as a cat is to 
look at a king. But we didn^t allude to that. As you 
may imagine, we had matters of rather more urgent 
importance to discuss.” 

I should have called that a matter of very urgent 
importance; but you are so extraordinary! A^ou — you 
never let me know what is really in your mind! ” 

Don’t I ? And yet most people would tell you, 
I think, that I am pretty straight. Do you always let 
me know what is really in your mind, Marietta?” 

You wouldn’t believe me if I did! Will you be- 
lieve me if I tell you that I detest that man ? ” 

To Marietta’s surprise and relief, her husband 
laughed, and answered, Oh, yes; that is certainly not 
incredible. Only he may be less detestable than you 
think he is; and as for his being a murderer 


436 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


My first thought, after I heard the news, was that 
he must be the murderer! ” cried Marietta. 

‘‘Yes — and you thanked God, I remember when I 
told you that we had no idea who was guilty. I can 
understand now what it was that you dreaded. You 
thought that your father was perhaps the aggressor, and 
that hasty blows had been exchanged — as, no doubt, they 
might have been. But I believe we may dismiss that 
theory, which is really a rather far-fetched one.’^ 

Lionel added, after a moment, “ I don’t want to 
press you in any way. Marietta; but — would you not 
feel a little more comfortable if you were to be per- 
fectly open with me?” 

Almost she was tempted to respond to this invita- 
tion, strange though it sounded in her ears; hut her 
courage failed her. The most unimpassioned man in 
the world could scarcely have spoken like that to a wife 
who had been within an ace of deserting him, and it 
seemed certain that Strahan had not divulged the whole 
truth. Therefore she replied, with an air of candid 
astonishment: 

“ I don’t know what you are talking about. I have 
concealed nothing from you, Lionel — I give you my 
word of honour that I have nothing to conceal! ” 

In that case,” he returned at once, there is no 
more to be said. I fancied that there might he some- 
thing; hut I see that I was mistaken, and I beg your 
pardon.” 


CHAPTER XLVII. 

ST. QTJINTIN- HAS A PLEASANT WALK. 

Strahan’s arrest and his impending trial, upon a 
charge of having committed the mysterious crime which 
had been such a godsend to the newspapers during the 


ST. QUINTIN HAS A PLEASANT WALK. 437 


dull season caused, as may be supposed, no small stir 
throughout the length and breadth of England. The 
affair would have been a sufficiently sensational one, 
even had the persons concerned therein been less so- 
cially prominent; as it was, public excitement ran high, 
and editors of newspapers could but lament their in- 
ability to discuss a case which was still sul) judice. Noth- 
ing, however, forbade some of them to regale their read- 
ers with full details relating to the prisoner’s past his- 
tory and daily reports as to his actual condition of 
health and spirits; while poor Lionel was made to writhe 
by the free style in which his and his wife’s intimacy 
with the alleged criminal was commented upon. The 
liberty of the press is rightly prized, no doubt, by a fine, 
independent race; yet there are occasions when one 
feels that a judicious touch of censorship would do 
nobody any harm. There are even occasions when one 
would like very well to be one’s self the official censor — 
armed with a good, serviceable knout. 

Lady Maria was less sensitive. She read the news- 
papers carefully through her spectacles every day, and 
found them, upon the whole, interesting and entertain- 
ing, if now and then a trifle impertinent. These penny- 
a-liners, luckily, did not know what a very narrow es- 
cape she had had of betrothing her granddaughter to 
the hero of their narratives, and she was so grateful to 
them for their ignorance, as well as to Providence for 
having mercifully preserved her from herself, that she 
really could not find it in her heart to wax wrath over 
imaginative paragraphs. What did vex her a good deal 
was that many of these paragraphs contained veiled al- 
lusions of which she was unable to make head or tail. 

Now what,” she demanded of Betty, as she laid 
down a weekly sheet which had just arrived, can be 
the meaning of this? — ^ The air is full of strange 
rumours respecting the forthcoming murder trial at 
Derby. The most strenuous exertions are being, and 
will be, made by influential persons to exclude all evi- 
dence, save such as bears directly upon the facts; but 


438 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


these are not likely to prove successful, and disclosures 
may be anticipated which, whether they tell for or 
against the prisoner, will probably cause a flutter in 
aristocratic circles.’ ” 

‘‘I am sure I don’t know, and I don’t care,” an- 
swered Betty contemptuously. 

She did know — or was, at least, afraid that she did 
— and she cared a good deal; but her grandmother was 
the last person in the world with whom she was desirous 
of conversing upon such topics. 

Then all I can say, my dear,” returned Lady Maria, 
with some severity, “is that you ought to care. And 
certainly we ought both of us to know. Why, it is not 
in the least unlikely, I understand, that we shall be 
called as witnesses, and one doesn’t want to have 
things sprung upon one all of a sudden in open court. 
Lionel is so short and rude about it all that there is 
really no use in applying to him; but something might 
be got out of Mr. St. Quintin, who seems to have been 
behinds the scenes all along, and who, of course, will 
have to be present at the trial. Just write him a line, 
will you, and say that we shall be delighted to put him 
up when the assizes open — or a day or two earlier, if he 
can manage it.” 

“ He won’t come,” said Betty. 

“ How can you tell that, my dear? For my 
part, I think he will. Anyhow, let us give him the 
chance.” 

The old lady, to whom St. Quintin’s hopeless pas- 
sion was no secret, was not above utilising her grand- 
daughter as a magnet. There would not, she thought, 
be the slightest danger in so doing, and she was burning 
with curiosity to ascertain how much St. Quintin knew. 
The reticence of Lionel and Marietta, who evidently 
knew more than they cared to reveal, had already ex- 
asperated her almost beyond endurance. 

It may be that Betty herself was not unwilling to 
hold a preliminary conference with the instigator of all 
this trouble; for she did as she was told, and it was 


ST. QUINTIN HAS A PLEASANT WALK. 439 


scarcely in accordance with her custom to obey orders 
which were distasteful to her. 

By return of post she received a grateful acknowl- 
edgment of her letter and of Lady Maria’s kind invita- 
tion, which the writer very much regretted that it was 
not in his power to accept. The fact is/’ St. Quintin 
explained, that the principal witness for the prosecu- 
tion is more or less under my charge, and he is in such a 
queer, nervous state that I should hardly like to lose 
sight of him for any length of time. However, I can 
easily manage to go over to Chelton for an hour or two 
on the day before the trial, if you will allow me. I 
can quite understand that Lady Maria has been, as you 
say, worried and annoyed by the newspaper stories; al- 
though they are, to the best of my belief, pure inven- 
tions.” 

That will do very well,” said Lady Maria, on being 
informed of St. Quintin’s reply; he can come over to 
luncheon, and I will have a talk with him afterwards. 
I must say for that young man that he is an amiable, 
biddable creature. One sometimes wishes for his sake, 
that he were a little better-looking and had a rather 
higher opinion of himself.” 

I can’t say that I have found him particularly 
biddable,” remarked Betty, and I haven’t noticed that 
there is very much amiss with his opinion of himself. 
As for looks, they’re a matter of taste; I don’t see why 
some people shouldn’t consider him quite handsome.” 

Whether or not that was Miss Mallet’s own opinion 
of St. Quintin’s somewhat homely features, she must 
have been anxious to obtain an early sight of them; for 
when the, day appointed for his visit to her grandmother 
arrived, she was at the pains of walking nearly the 
whole way to the station in order to intercept him. 
She stopped the brougham which had been sent to meet 
him and peremptorily beckoned to him to descend, tell- 
ing the coachman to drive on. 

I am sorry to have to make you walk,” said she, 
as soon as her request had been complied with; ^^but 


44:0 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


there are questions which can’t well be asked before 
granny, and it isn’t such a very bad day for a walk after 
all.” 

It was one of those still, gray autumn days, with a 
suspicion of frost in the air, and long shafts of sunlight 
piercing the low clouds at intervals, which almost all 
Englishmen love; but if it had been blowing, snow- 
ing, or pouring in torrents, St. Quintin would have been 
none the less delighted to walk any distance by the side 
of his present companion, and he almost said so. He 
thought better of his intention, however, and merely 
declared his readiness to answer to the best of his abil- 
ity all the questions which might be put to him. 

To begin with, then,” said Betty, did the man 
really do it ? ” 

‘‘ Strahan, do you mean? Well, of course that is 
what remains to be proved; but, personally, I think he 
did. I believe Brydon’s story.” 

‘^Will he be hanged then?” 

Ah! that again is more than I can tell you. One 
doesn’t know what line of defence he will adopt; but 
he is sure to be skilfully defended, and poor Brydon will 
not cut much of a figure in the witness-box, I am afraid. 
The absence of any apparent motive for the murder, 
and the fact of his having done Brydon a cruel injury 
will count in Strahan’s favour, no doubt.” 

Well,” said Betty, after a pause, I can’t help hop- 
ing that he will get off; though I think, as you do, 
that he is guilty. I have had a sort of feeling all along 
that he must know something about it.” 

And yet,” St. Quintin ventured to remark, I re- 
member your snubbing me rather savagely for saying 
that if Strahan didn’t know who committed the murder, 
nobody was ever likely to know.” 

Betty laughed a little. 

^^Well, perhaps you had earned a snub,” said she; 
‘^if you want people to have patience with you, you 
shouldn’t be always in the right. I shouldn’t wonder 
if I had taken Mr. Strahan’s part because he has been 


ST. QUINTIN HAS A PLEASANT WALK. 441 


SO abominably in the wrong. Partly for that reason, 
anyhow, and partly because he really is a good sports- 
man.’^ 

St. Quintin looked puzzled. 

“ I suppose I am very dull; but I don’t follow you,” 
he confessed. 

You’ll admit, at all events,” returned Betty, that 
he is a fine horseman and good shot — that’s something, 
isn’t it? As to my taking his part because he was in 
the wrong — well, that’s rather more complicated. When 
I said that I had taken his part, I meant that I had 
gone out of my way to be nice to him — that I had 
got granny to ask him here, and so on. I wonder 
whether you are too dull to understand why?” 

St. Quintin shook his head, and feared that he was. 
Presently he took the liberty of adding: — 

“ Of course, when I heard of his staying here, I 
thought what everybody else thought; and, of course, I 
rejoiced, as any friend of yours must have rejoiced, 
when it came to my knowledge later that you had re- 
fused the fellow’s impertinent offer of marriage.” 

Which, I presume, you paid me the compliment 
of expecting me to jump at. No; strange as it may 
appear to you, Mr. Strahan failed to conquer my young 
affections. But there was somebody else whose affec- 
tions it seemed to me that there was a risk of his cap- 
turing — somebody who was not free, and who required 
to have it proved to her that he was capable of treach- 
ery. Must one put things absolutely in black and white, 
or will that do? It ought to do, for I am sure you saw 
what I saw.” 

St. Quintin nodded. ‘^1 am very glad,” he said 
simply, after a moment. 

wanted to explain my conduct to you,” Betty 
resumed. ^‘You probably don’t approve of it, though 
you are kind enough to say that you are glad; but per- 
haps you will allow that my intentions this time were 
rather better than usual. They weren’t so very 
evil even when I dined at Hampton Court with 


442 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


Charlie Jocelyn; but that I mustn’t expect you to be- 
lieve.” 

have never thought that your intentions were 
bad — or your conduct either,” St. Quintin declared. 

I suppose you mean that it is just as impertinent of 
me to say I am glad now as it was to say I was sorry 
that evening at Hampton Court. I dare say it is; only 

you would forgive me, perhaps, if you knew 

If I knew what? ” 

He looked down and laughed rather sheepishly. If 
you knew what an utter idiot I am! However, I am not 
going to tell you, and you are not very likely to guess.” 

‘‘ From my youth up,” was Betty’s calm reply, I 
have always been accounted extraordinarily clever at 
guessing things. Far be it from me to deny that you 
are an utter idiot; but — I don’t particularly islike that 
form of idiocy. Unless, of course, it is pushed to ridicu- 
lous lengths.” 

St. Quintin glanced up quickly and, meeting her 
eyes, perceived that' his secret had ceased to be a secret. 

“ There shall be nothing of that kind,” he hastened 
to say. I can’t pretend to regret that you know the 
truth; but I promise you that I will never allude to 
the subject again.” 

Oh, but that is exactly what I call pushing idiocy 
to ridiculous lengths. You were an idiot to think that 

I ever dreamt of marrying Charlie Jocelyn ” 

But you as good as told me that you did dream 
of it! ” 

Well, you were an idiot to believe me, and a still 
greater idiot to believe that I could possibly marry 
Mr. Strahan. Don’t go and be superlative in the way 
that you threaten to be! ” 

He stared at her in speechless amazement. ‘^You 
can’t,” he stammered out at last — ‘^you can’t mean ” 

But she was able to convince him that she could 
and did. Who can attempt to account for feminine 
vagaries? A wise man had best acknowledge that there 
is never any use in quarrelling with them, and that 


ST. QUINTIX HAS A PLEASANT WALK. 443 


sometimes their results may be accepted with wonder- 
ing gratitude. St. Quintin, as may be supposed, had no 
quarrel to pick with the lady of high rank and large 
fortune whom he had been crazy enough to adore, nor 
anything, save his personal unworthiness, to urge against 
a union which could not hut render him supremely 
happy. 

But, never so long as I live shall I come to under- 
standing it! ” he modestly exclaimed. 

Oh, I know you! — youTl come to understand it 
fast enough,” Betty returned, ^^and youTl he about as 
implacable a domestic tyrant as there is in England. I 
can see you from here gently, but firmly, forbidding me 
to do half the things that I shall want to do. However, 
as I said just now, you have a trick of being always in 
the right, and perhaps that is why I shall prove a sub- 
missive wife. One learns to admire in one’s husband, 
you see, what is downright infuriating on the part of a 
disinterested friend.” 

Thus the unhappy captive in Derby gaol was clean 
forgotten, and it was reserved for Lady Maria Halsted, 
whose donkey-carriage presently hove in sight, to put 
questions which had escaped her granddaughter’s mem- 
ory. 

I came out to meet you, Mr. St. Quintin,” the old 
lady announced; “ they told me that you were walking 
up from the station, and really there is no time to be 
lost. I must he thoroughly coached, please, if I am 
to stand cross-examination in open court by a lot of 
impertinent barristers.” 

St. Quintin did not think it probable that Lady 
Maria would be cross-examined, or even called, at the 
approaching trial; hut he replied to her numerous 
queries as patiently and categorically as a preoccupied 
man could he expected to do, and it was not until they 
were within doors that he took courage to blurt out a 
piece of intelligence which he felt sure would be received 
with displeasure, as well as incredulity. 

It must be owned that Lady Maria was not alto- 
29 


444 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


gether pleased; but she said at once that she had had 
too long an experience of Betty’s eccentricities to be 
astonished. You are no match for her in point of 
position, of course/’ was the old lady’s candid remark; 
‘‘ but one remembers that you ' have shown yourself 
a match for her in other respects, and I’m sure I hope 
you will keep it up! There is this to be said for you, 

that you are a gentleman by birth ” 

Which you didn’t seem to think essential in the 
case of somebody else,” interpolated Betty. 

“ And that you are a steady, well-conducted young 
man,” proceeded Lady Maria. What Lionel will think 
I don’t know; but I presume he will hardly be so un- 
just as to blame me.” 

^^And if he is,” observed Betty, ^^you can assure 
him that you did your very best to provide him with a 
totally different brother-in-law.” 

‘^Well, well!” said Lady Maria; things might 
have been better; but there’s no denying that they 
might have been worse. Moreover, they are ordered 
for us.” 

Which is an immense consolation, and relieves us 
of all responsibility,” Betty remarked. Now let us 
go and get something to eat.” 


CHAPTER XLYIII. 

ME. BKYDON KETIRES. 

As the day appointed for the trial about which all 
England was talking drew near. Marietta’s apprehen- 
sions became almost more acute than she could bear. 
It had been notified to her that she, as well as Lord 
Middlewood, would be required to give evidence, and 
she could not feel sure that this would prove to be of 


MR. BRYDON RETIRES. 


445 


the brief and formal character that she was led to ex- 
pect. Lionel, when questioned, replied that he hoped 
it would he; but he was evidently aware that disagree- 
able queries might he put, and he advised her somewhat 
emphatically not to attempt anything in the shape of 
prevarication. Her wisest course, he told her, would 
be to say as little as possible beyond yes and no, and to 
keep always within the limits of the strict truth. For the 
rest, he showed a decided disinclination to talk about 
the subject, and his manner, though kindly and consid- 
erate, was rather chilling. That he had discovered 
something she could not doubt; but to what extent she 
had been betrayed it was very difficult to determine. 
At times she fancied that he wished her to make a 
clean breast of it; at other moments she felt convinced 
that he would never forgive her if she did. And Stra- 
han, who was fighting for his life, with his back against 
the wall, would assuredly not spare her. If in any way 
he could improve his own case by ruining a foolish 
woman, ruined that foolish woman would be! Such 
was Marietta’s estimate of a man to whom she had so 
nearly entrusted her whole future. 

Absurd though these fears were, there was nobody 
to point out their absurdity to her, and at length — 
being well-nigh in despair — she abruptly told her hus- 
band that she could not face the imminent ordeal. 

You must make some excuse for me,” she said; “ you 
must declare that I am too ill to appear. That is true; 
for I do feel horribly ill. Besides, my testimony can’t 
really be wanted; I know nothing at all about it.” 

I am afraid you will have to nerve yourself to 
appear,” answered Lionel decisively; “ this isn’t an in- 
vitation which can be declined on the plea of a head- 
ache. In all probability, your examination will only oc- 
cupy a few minutes; still there is, I believe, a chance 
of your being pressed to give information about a mat- 
ter which — well, you have given me your word of hon- 
our that you know nothing of it; so I must not assume 
that that can be troubling you.” 


446 


MARIETTA'S MARRIAGE. 


Marietta clasped her fingers together tightly and the 
tears game into her eyes. Yon mean,” she returned, 
“that that is Just what yon do assume! My word of 
honour! — ah, I am afraid that you do not think that 
is worth much! AVhy do you make it so hard for me 
to speak! I wanted to tell you everything, and — and I 
think there has been some excuse for me. But I know 
you will never admit that there can be any excuse for 
deceit.” 

“ My dear,” answered Lionel, taking her hand and 
softening immediately, “ I think that in this case there 
was great excuse. You had not only yourself to con- 
sider, and although I must own that I wish I hadn’t 
been deceived, I can understand and forgive. I would 
have said this before, if I hadn’t honestly thought that 
it might be possible to spare you any allusion to the 
subject.” 

Marietta hung her head. “ You are very generous,” 
she murmured. 

He certainly had the appearance of being somewhat 
abnormally so; yet, strangely enough, it did not strike 
her as preposterous that he should treat her proposed 
desertion of him with such equanimity. It was, after 
all, in a great measure his own fault that she had con- 
templated deserting him, and she rather expected him 
to display further generosity by admitting as much. 
However, he disappointed her in that respect. His next 
remark was the utterly inexplicable one of: 

“ I hoped, you see, that Strahan had not spoken to 
you about this. He quite led me to suppose that he 
had not; although he acknowledged that he had spoken 
to your father.” 

“ That he had spoken to my father and not to me! ” 
ejaculated Marietta. “What do you mean? — how could 
such a thing have been possible? My father, I know, 
was afraid of what might happen; hut it was not then, 
it was not until long afterwards, that I consented — 
and indeed, I never did actually consent.” 

“To do what?” asked Lionel. 


4 


MR. BRYDON RETIRES. 


447 


Well — to run away with him. But I doubt whether 
I should have gone when it came to the push — even if 
my eyes had not been opened by Betty’s letter. For I 
did not really love him; it was only that I believed 
he was in love with me and — and that I knew you were 
not! ” 

It was well for her that her eyes were cast down and 
that she did not see her husband’s face. His voice was 
quite steady and under control as he replied: 

^^Y'ou cannot have known that. Marietta, because 
it isn’t the truth. What I told you before we went up 
to London is the truth; I haven’t changed since our 
marriage, and I never shall, for I am an unchangeable 
sort of person. But I am also an undemonstrative sort 
of person.” 

That is just it! ” she interrupted eagerly. 

Yes, I’m undemonstrative, and I’m rather easily 
snubbed. We haven’t understood one another, and very 
likely the fault has been as much mine as yours; but 
it isn’t too late, perhaps, to turn over a new leaf.” 

She assured him that it was not. Looking up into 
his face at last, and noticing how pale and drawn it 
looked, she was conscious of a thrill of exaltation and 
was able to persuade herself that in this moment of 
discomfiture she had won the victory which she had 
desired all along to win. Something to that effect 
though not in those words, she intimated, begging him 
once more to pardon her and promising that she, on her 
side, would gladly treat bygones as bygones. And he 
responded after a fashion which she deemed satisfac- 
tory. Generous he undoubtedly was; it may have been 
his misfortune — it was, in any case, his inevitable des- 
tiny — to he just, into the bargain; so that he could not 
in his heart acquit the wife whom he loved and for- 
gave. But perhaps the only important thing was that 
he should love and forgive her. 

As soon as he was once more alone, he sat down 
to mentally review the strangely altered situation, and 
it must he confessed that his sense of justice was not 


448 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


strong enough to resist a fierce longing that he might 
hear Strahan condemned to suffer the extreme penalty 
of the law. A man may be a liar, a traitor and an im- 
postor without being a murderer; still, when such a 
man is charged with murder, it is permissible to assume 
that the chances are in favour of his guilt, and the sur- 
mise which now forced itself upon Lionel was, in fact, 
absolutely correct. The quarrel, its origin and its re- 
sults had no further mystery for him. And then that 
story of Marietta’s illegitimacy, which he had so nearly 
mentioned to her, and was glad to think that he had 
abstained from mentioning — was it a malicious lie? 
Truth or falsehood, he would keep it to himself, he 
resolved, unless allusion should be incidentally made 
to it in the course of the trial. For his own satisfaction, 
or dissatisfaction, he could ascertain the state of the 
case later; but he would remain silent respecting it. 
There were, indeed, so many matters respecting which 
it would behove him to observe silence that one more 
or less would scarcely add to the weight of that burden 
of secrecy. 

Meanwhile, his first duty was to keep up Marietta’s 
spirits and conduct her to Derby, where it was prob- 
able that they would be detained for several days. He 
could truthfully assure her that he did not think there 
was any likelihood of the statements which she dreaded 
forming a part of the prisoner’s defence, and she ap- 
peared tranquillised by his assurances. 

“It will be a horrible ordeal, and I wish we were 
well through it,” she remarked, as they drew near 
their journey’s end on the ensuing day; “ but, happen 
what may, it can’t now be as bad as I thought it was 
going to be. You don’t think that the man is guilty, 
or that the jury will find him guilty, do you?” 

“ We shall know better what to think when we have 
heard Brydon’s evidence,” was Lionel’s evasive reply; 
“everything must, naturally, depend upon that.” 

But they were not destined to hear, nor were the 
newspapers destined to report, the cross-examination of 


MR. BRYDON RETIRES. 


449 


the witness upon whom the prosecution relied. For 
while St. Quintin (who never should have lost sight of 
that witness) had been in a seventh heaven of delight 
at Chelton, and while Lord and Lady Middlewood had 
been composing their conjugal differences at Ludworth, 
an event had occurred which is always liable to occur 
in the case of habitual drunkards who are forcibly de- 
barred from yielding to the craving which their will is 
powerless to resist. St. Quintin, who, with an elongated 
countenance, came out to meet his friends at the en- 
trance of the hotel where they had engaged rooms, drew 
Lionel aside to whisper: 

We’re done! Poor Brydon has been found in his 
bedroom, with his throat cut. It’s a ghastly end to a 
tragic business, and I feel that I am to blame for it; 
but it never occurred to me to think of this as one of 
the dangers of leaving him to himself for a fev,^ hours! 
Like a fool, I fancied that I had taken every reasonable 
precaution when I gave strict orders that he was on no 
account to be supplied with any intoxicating liquor 
during my absence.” 

Brydon, it appeared, had eagerly and even tearfully 
demanded intoxicating liquors, and, on these being re- 
fused to him, had locked himself into his bedroom 
where, in a moment of mental aberration (subsequently 
pronounced to be such by an intelligent coroner’s jury), 
he had put an end to himself. 

Poor devil! ” murmured Lionel when, half an hour 
or so later, he had heard all that there was to hear 
about the matter; “ I am sorry for him. Still, one can 
only suppose that he had perjured himself once, and 
was afraid of doing it a second time.” 

“No doubt,” agreed St. Quintin, “that is what 
everybody will suppose. It isn’t what I myself sup- 
pose. I am almost as certain as I am of my own exist- 
ence that he saw Strahan kill Colonel Vigne; but he 
was so broken down, and in such a desperate funk of 
what Strahan might do to him, that I shouldn’t have 
felt at all certain of his standing to his guns under 


450 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


cross-examination. And perhaps, after all, it is as well, 
in some ways, that that rascal should be acquitted.” 

“You think he will be acquitted, then?” asked 
Lionel. 

“ I don’t see how he can possibly be convicted now. 
All the same, he won’t exactly leave the court without 
a stain upon his character, and I should hope that you, 
at all events, will have nothing more to do with him.” 

Lionel made no immediate reply to a remark which 
had a somewhat anxiously interrogative ring; but he 
presently said, “ 1 have written to resign my director- 
ship.” 

“ I am glad to hear that — very glad. Although I 
presume that Strahan will have to send in his resigna- 
tion also.” 

“ I should doubt that. A man doesn’t give up a 
lucrative post because he has been so unfortunate as to 
he arrested upon a charge which can’t be substantiated 
— and so fortunate as to be honourably acquitted. For, 
in spite of what you say, it seems to me that he must 
he honourably acquitted, if he is to he acquitted at all. 
As for me, I shall accept the verdict of the jury, what- 
ever it may be; but I intend to tell Strahan that, on 
other grounds, I must decline the honour of his future 
acquaintance. Circumstances have come to my knowl- 
edge which — ^in short, which have caused me to change 
my opinion of him and adopt yours. Let us agree that 
the man is a cad and never say another word about 
him.” 

St. Quintin silently acquiesced. What might he the 
nature of the circumstances alluded to he did not know, 
nor was he very curious to inquire. Conjectures of 
various kinds could he easily formed; hut it was evi- 
dent that there was no good purpose to he served by 
giving utterance to any of them, and during the re- 
mainder of a rather difficult and constrained evening he 
heroically refrained from saying many things which he 
was sorely tempted to say. 

As for the great trial of the morrow, to which so 


MR. BRYDON RETIRES. 


451 


many thousands of newspaper readers were eagerly 
looking forward, it fulfilled his anticipations by com- 
pletely disappointing theirs. With Brydon’s suicide 
the case for the prosecution almost necessarily collapsed, 
and although evidence was admitted, relating to the 
missing letters, which did not precisely redound to the 
credit of the accused, his neck was never for one mo- 
m^ent in jeopardy. The proceedings were brief; the 
judge, while allowing it to he inferred that, in his 
opinion, the prisoner was at least as lucky as he de- 
served to be, practically told the jury that they had no 
option hut to find him not guilty, and those twelve 
honest citizens deliberated only for a few minutes be- 
fore arriving unanimously at a foregone conclusion. 
It is needless to add that nothing calculated to distress 
either Lord or Lady Middlewood transpired. 

The former, after putting his wife into the carriage 
which was waiting to take her to the hotel, strode to- 
wards a group of gentlemen who were warmly con- 
gratulating the liberated Strahan and shaking him by 
the hand. Lionel’s own hands were clasped behind his 
back; his face expressed neither satisfaction nor the 
reverse, and if his abstention from saying what other 
people were saying was a little marked, his voice did 
not sound particularly unfriendly, as he asked: 

Can I speak to you for a minute? ” 

Strahan’s friends — City men, for the most part, with 
whom Lionel had no acquaintance — fell hack immedi- 
ately, while Strahan himself, who guessed what was 
coming, assumed a pleasant smile, although in his heart 
he cursed Marietta for a fool. But what he had expected 
did not come. 

I suppose you cannot have heard,” Lionel began, 
as soon as they were out of earshot, “ that I have retired 
from your hoard. I thought I had better tell you that 
I have done so, and also that I have given instructions 
for all the shares that I hold in the company to be 
sold.” 

Then, my dear fellow, I am afraid you will incur 


452 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


a loss. This happens to be a particularly bad moment 
for selling.” 

So I understand; but I wish to have no further 
connection with the affair, even in the capacity of a 
shareholder, and I must tell you at the same time that 
I do not wish to have any further connection with you 
as an acquaintance.” 

“I suppose,” observed Strahan composedly, ^Hhat 
you want me to ask for an explanation.” 

On the contrary, I should decline to give you one 
if you did ask. Form what conclusions you please; only 
let there be no mistake as to our being strangers hence- 
forth.” 

As we parted upon friendly terms the other day,” 
remarked Strahan, ‘‘ and as the absurd accusation which 
was brought against me has just ignominiously failed, I 
can only conclude that you are taking up this tone in 
consequence of something which you have heard from 
Lady Middlewood. Well, you owe me one, of course, 
and it is impossible for me to say what I might say by 
way of excuse; but really I can’t admire your method 
of avenging yourself. Even if you manage to wreck 
the company — and I doubt whether you will — you will 
scarcely ruin me. Moreover, I shall be leaving England 
very shortly; so that your countenance and support mat- 
ter nothing to me, one way or the other. It is true that 
you get out of the affair with a whole skin, which is 
some consolation to you, I suppose; still I should have 
thought that, being a much more powerful man than I 
am, you would at least have attempted to break mine. 
However, if you are satisfied, it is not for me to com- 
plain.” 

You can’t insult me,” answered Lionel; you 
probably know that I am not a coward, and that I am 
speaking the simple truth when I say that I don’t con- 
sider you worth kicking. Thrashing you would entail 
some sort of a public explanation, and that, as I said 
just now, I don’t care to explain. Nor have I the 
slightest desire to ruin either you or your company; so 


MR. BRYDON RETIRES. 


453 

far as I am concerned, you are both welcome to flourish. 
That is all I have to say.^’ 

Apparently, Strahan also had nothing more to say. 
He laughed, raised his hat with a mocking exaggera- 
tion of politeness, and turned on his heel. Perhaps he 
was conscious of having been morally kicked; perhaps 
for a few moments he realised that nothing on earth 
can compensate a man for having behaved, or even for 
having been treated like a cur; but it is more likely that 
he rejoiced in his regained and unchallenged liberty. 
He passed then and there out of the lives of those who 
have figured in this history, willingly enough abandon- 
ing all idea of an English career, and in the colony 
which owes so much to his zeal and capacity he will, it 
may be anticipated, reach a wealthy and honoured old 
age. The sensational affair which preceded his depart- 
ure for Australia has not prejudiced public opinion 
against him either in the northern or in the southern 
hemisphere. 

As for Lionel, he went his way with head erect, but 
with a heavy heart. In the lives of almost all men, and 
certainly of all men constituted as he chanced to be, 
there are sure to come moments of utter despondency 
— moments when it seems no longer possible to believe 
in anything or to trust anybody. The race to which we 
belong is admittedly composed of miserable sinners; 
we deceive ourselves, we deceive one another; sometimes 
existence looks like one prolonged and more or less 
futile deception. Yet the average gentleman must needs 
believe that he personally is an honourable man — ^must 
needs be shocked and amazed when he discovers that 
those whom he has trusted are nothing of the sort. 
Possiblv women have a different standard; it is often 
asserted that they have. Or perhaps they contrive to 
get on comfortably enough without any standard at all, 
aided by such emotions as circumstances may evoke. 
At all events, Lionel, who was only an average gentle- 
man, perceived that, for his peace of mind, he must 
make some such excuse on behalf of the wom-an who 


454 : 


MARIETTA’S MARRIAGE. 


bore his name. Moreover, there were other excuses — 
obvious enough, now that he came to think of them. 
If Marietta had been in fault, so had he; the best plan 
was to turn over a new leaf, to forgive and forget — 
and there is never any use in forgiving by halves. Two 
reflections helped to sustain and comfort him: he was 
convinced that his wife could not really have loved 
so despicable a fellow as Strahan, and he was very glad 
that he had resisted a strong temptation to pound that 
despicable fellow to a jelly. Nothing now stood in the 
way of complete reconciliation — nothing, that is, except 
the unfortunate disability under which the average gen- 
tleman labours of reconstructing fallen idols. But it 
may be, after all, that the worship of idols is no very 
sure road to domestic felicity, and that a man who has 
got rid of illusions is better equipped for the task which 
lies before him than an idiotic young lover can be. 

At the hotel, where an expectant group had as- 
sembled, two lovers who flattered themselves that, what- 
ever they might be, they were not idiots, awaited the 
formal approbation of the head of the family. That 
request, the younger of them made haste to point out, 
was a mere matter of form; because she could do as 
she pleased, and nothing would prevent her from doing 
what she intended to do. 

All the same, we should like to be patted on the 
head and be told that you are pleased with us. Granny 
thinks you will be disgusted with us and displeased with 
her; but I am bound to say that this has been none of 
her doing. If she had had her way ” 

If I had had my way, Betty,” interrupted Lady 
Maria quickly, ‘^you and your tongue would be under 
better control. I never made use of such a word as 
disgust — which would be quite inappropriate — and I 
hope your brother has sense enough to understand that, 
as I have no authority, I cannot be saddled with re- 
sponsibility.” 

Dear me! ” exclaimed Lionel, what funny people 
you are, all of you! Is it likely that I should be dis- 


MR. BRYDON RETIRES. 


455 


pleased or disgusted because my sister is going to marry 
the very best fellow that I know? Why didn’t you tell 
me this before? ” 

Well/’ answered Betty demurely, we haven’t 
known it very long ourselves. In fact, it has been a 
little bit of a surprise to us both.” 

The last few days,” remarked Lionel, have been 
rather fruitful in surprises; but this at least is an alto- 
gether pleasant one.” 

And the others can’t be fairly called unpleasant,” 
chimed in Lady Maria. It is dreadful, of course, to 
think of that unfortunate man’s having committed sui- 
cide — and done it in such a horrid way too! — still I feel 
sure that he has spared us all a good deal of distress and 
discomfort. Have you seen poor Mr. Strahan and as- 
sured him of our sympathy? ” 

“ I have seen him,” Lionel replied rather drily. 

He means to sail for Australia very soon, he tells me.” 

Marietta drew a long breath. “ I wonder whether 
he is guilty or innocent?” she murmured. 

“ A jury of his fellow-countrymen have pronounced 
him innocent,” said St. Quintin. 

“And yet he goes to Australia! Well, I trust he 
will stay there; for I do not wish ever to set eyes on 
him again. I always disliked him, and lately I have 
hated him! ” 

She threw an anxious, appealing glance at her hus- 
band, who understood what she meant, and whose hand 
was surreptitiously extended to clasp hers. It may be 
hoped that she was appreciative; it is certain that at 
that moment she was, for once in her life, thankful and 
contented. 


THE END. 





I 






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